LOGIC IN THEOLOGY AND 
OTHER ESSAYS. 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY 



AND OTHER ESSAYS 

y 

BY ISAAC TAYLOR 



to 

t 




BELL 



LONDON 
AND DALDY FLEET 
1859 



STREET 



CONTENTS. 



ESSAY I. 

Logic in Theology . . . . 

ESSAY II. 
The state of Unitarianism in England 

ESSAY III. 
Nilus : — The Chriftian Courtier in the Defert 

ESSAY IV. 
Paula : — High Quality and Afceticifm in the 
Fourth Century . . . . . _ . 

ESSAY V. 

Theodosius : — Pagan Ufages, and the Chriftian 
Magiftrate ....... 

ESSAY VI. 
Julian: — Prohibitive Education . . . . 

ESSAY VII. 
« Without Controversy " . 

Supplementary to the Fifth Essay . 



HE reader [is informed that a great 
part of the First Essay in this 
volume appeared as an Introductory 
Eflay to "Edwards on Free Will." The Se- 
cond Essay, which firft appeared in the Eclediic 
Review^ October, 1830, was reprinted at Man- 
chefter foon afterwards. 

The other E flays — the Third, Fourth, 
Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh— have not before 
appeared in print. 




ESSAYS, ETC. 



Logic in Theology, 

ODERN phyfical fcience has had its 
commencement, and has attained its 
prefent firm condition within a pe- 
riod of three hundred years. The 
philofophy which it has difplaced had held undif- 
puted fway during more than eighteen hundred 
years. In comparing the recent with the ancient 
fcheme of natural fcience the contraft is not greater 
in regard to the contents, or the afcertained refults 
of the one fyftem, than in regard to thofe principles 
of reafoning and thofe methods of proof which 
have been admitted in each. 

Throughout that long anterior period of ima- 
gined intelleftual liberty, but of real bondage, the 
matters of philofophy believed, and they taught, 
that the human mind poflefles, or may attain to, a 
fovereign comprehenfion of all things, real and 
poffible, fo that it may work out for itfelf a fcheme 
of the world, material and immaterial, derived from 
its own conceptions ; a fcheme fuch that it mall 

B 




2 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



furnifh a true explication of all phenomena of the 
aftual world. 

This prodigious illufion — fuch we now think it 
— was already palling off from the mind of Europe, 
as a dark cloud, at the moment when Bacon, in 
formal terms, challenged it as a folly, and the 
parent of error. Since that time realities, one by 
one, have been coming into their due pofition in 
the room of dreams. This, with an allowance 
made for exceptional inftances, may be affirmed 
concerning the phyfical fciences of this modern 
period. 

In turning toward thofe regions of thought 
where we ceafe to be concerned with things pal- 
pable, vifible, meafurable, ponderable, a corres- 
ponding affirmation cannot be advanced, apart 
from exceptive ftatements, fo large, that we may 
well doubt whether the affirmative fide and the 
exceptive fhould not change places ; or whether, 
in the regions of non-material philofophy, what we 
may affirm with truth is only this — that in thefe 
fields the antiquated Logic ftill holds its fway — a 
due allowance being made for inftances in which 
jufter modes of thinking have gained ground. 

In proportion as the human mind is compelled 
to feel its dependence upon its inftrument, namely 
— language, it is led, almoft irrefiftibly, to expefh 
far more aid from the logical collocation of words 
and propofitions than thefe implements of thought 
can ever yield. Language, logically compacted in 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY, 3 



proportions, avails to give us the beft poffible 
command of the knowledge which we actually 
poffefs ; but it has no power to increafe that flock, 
even by a particle. 

Neverthelefs the advantages derivable from a 
well-compadled and a well-commanded flock of 
knowledge are fo great — they are fo ineftimable — 
that it becomes difficult to avoid attributing to our 
logical methods an efficacy which does not belong 
to them. We believe ourfelves to have acquired 
knowledge, when, in fa£t, we have done nothing 
more than bring our materials into available order. 
In truth, it may be granted that order is a pofitive 
gain in refpect of materials of which we are likely 
to make no ufe while they lie fcattered before us 
in confufion. 

The imagined efficiency of logical methods for 
augmenting our ftock of knowledge — for bringing 
us to know what otherwife we mould not know — 
is ftill affirmed, and is trufted to, in the depart- 
ment of intellectual philofophy ; nor can it be 
faid that thofe vaft advances of phyfical fcience, 
which have refulted from the adoption of a wholly 
different principle, have much availed to bring 
about a correfponding improvement on this fide \ 
for it continues to be believed that, by carrying 
the higheft abftradlions a ftep or two further than 
they have hitherto gone, the human mind may 
come to folve the problems of exiftence, and may 
mafter the myfteries of its own being. 



4 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



In the region of religious fpeculation, or of ab- 
ftra£t theology, various influences combine to 
ftrengthen this fame confidence in the potency of 
formal methods of reafoning for the attainment of 
knowledge. Concerning thefe influences it is not 
propofed in thefe pages to make any inquiry ; nor 
to afk what may have been their operation in 
diftorting or difturbing the principles of a purely 
biblical theology. Inftead of attempting a tafk fo 
difficult, and of fuch wide range as this, we take 
up a fingle inftance in which logical methods 
which are affirmed to be ftri£tly demonftrative, 
and irrefiftibly conclufive, have been applied to a 
clafs of fubje&s in relation to which we are far 
from being dependent upon language, or upon 
Logic, and where genuine knowledge, as to its 
fources, and its materials, is within our reach — 
fubj efts which belong much rather to phyfics than 
to metaphyfics. 

An inquiry — properly phyfical — concerning the 
conftitution of human nature, has come to be 
confidered by theologians as their own, in confe- 
quence of its connection with the principles of the 
moral and religious life. Theology — that is to 
fay, a mixed produft of abftradr. fpeculation and 
of biblical teaching — has interwoven itfelf, has en- 
tangled itfelf, with what appertains to the philofo- 
phy of human nature. A difentanglement of the 
two is what may well be aimed at, as defirable. 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



SECTION I. 

IN modern times no inftance of the mifapplica- 
tion of mere logic to the folution of a phyfical 
problem has been more fignal, or has had fo wide 
and lafting an influence as that of the " Inquiry 
into the Modern Prevailing Notions refpedting the 
Freedom of Will." Jonathan Edwards has held his 
ground as a mafter in morals and theology, almoft 
unqueftioned, from his own times to thefe. 

Should we think, then, to diflodge him from his 
pofition ? We are far from wifhing to attempt it. 
But what may be done is this — to accept, and to 
leave to its merits, the alleged demonftration of an 
abftrufe dogma, and to fet it off* as a matter alto- 
gether indifferent to Chriftian belief, as it con- 
fefledly is fo to the conduct of common life. 

Philofophical writings are allowed to command 
a more grave attention, and to challenge a higher 
rank in literature than is accorded to works of 
imagination ; but then it is their fate more often 
to fall into oblivion ; or even if remembered and 
preferved, yet to be fuperfeded, and to forfeit the 
honours they once enjoyed as canons of fcience. 
The reafon of this difference is obvious ; for in the 
one clafs of compofitions an end is propofed, 
namely, to give pleafure to the reader — which 



6 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



may be attained in a thoufand ways, and in the 
purfuit of which genius enfures its own fuccefs. 
But in the other clafs, where the difcovery of truth 
is the fingle obje£t, fuccefs depends, not merely 
upon the ability of the writer, but upon the good 
fortune alfo which leads him to choofe the one 
right track, amid innumerable devious paths. 

Works of fcience loofe their credit, as fuch, 
either in confequence of the refutation and entire 
rejection of the principles they maintain ; or they 
are gradually fuperfeded, in the courfe of improve- 
ment, by better digefted fyftems, founded on the 
fame general doctrines. In inftances of this latter 
fort the difcoverers of certain great truths which 
have become the property of the intellectual com- 
monwealth, though they ftill hold their titles of 
honour, are more often fpoken of than read ; or 
they are read only by the few who make the hif- 
tory of fcience their peculiar ftudy. 

Whatever may in the next age be the fate of the 
" Inquiry concerning Freedom of Will," it may 
fafely be predi£led that, at leafl: as an inftance of 
exadl analyfis, of penetrative abftraction, and of 
philofophic calmnefs, this celebrated eflay will long 
fupport its reputation, and it may continue to be ufed 
as a claffic in the bufinefs of intellectual education. 
If literary ambition had been, which certainlv it 
was not, the aftive motive of the author's mind, 
and if he could have forefeen the reputation of his 
" Eflay on Free Will," he need have envied few 
afpirants to philofophic fame. What higher praife 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 7 



could a fcientific writer wifh for than that of hav- 
ing, by a fingle diflertation, reduced a numerous, a 
learned, and a then powerful party, in his own and 
other countries (and from his own day to the pre- 
fent time) to the neceffity of making almoft a filent 
proteft againft the argument and inference of the 
book as unanswerable \ and yet leaving them im- 
moveably attached to their previous opinion. And 
then, if we turn from theology to fcience, from 
divines to philofophers, we fee the modeft paftor of 
the Calvinifts of Northampton affigned to a feat of 
honour among fages, and allowed (if only he will 
forget his faith and his Bible) to fpeak and to utter 
decifions as a mafter in the fchools. 

It might indeed have been well if this devout 
man could have forefeen the confequences that 
have adtually refulted from the mode in which he 
conducted his argument \ for in that cafe he would 
not have allowed thofe who reject the Chriftian 
fyftem to triumph, by his aid, over faith, as well 
as reafon. He would, inftead of abandoning the 
ground of abftradt reafoning as foon as he had 
achieved the overthrow of the logical error of his 
opponents, have laboured fo to eftablifh the refpon- 
fibility of man as fhould have compelled unbelievers, 
either not to avail themfelves at all of his proof of 
univerfal caufation, or to yield to his proof of the 
reality of religion. 

The constitutional diffidence, and the Chriftian 
humility, and the retired habits of the American 
divine, forbad his entertaining the thought that he 



8 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



might be liftened to by philofophers as well as by 
his brethren — the minifters of religion. Suppofing 
himfelf to be writing only for thofe who acknow- 
ledged, as cordially as he did, the authority of Holy 
Scripture, he did not fcruple to make up his chain 
of reafoning> indifferently, of abftraftions and of 
texts. Efpecially in the latter portion of his trea- 
tife r he readily took the fhort fcriptural road to a 
conclufion, which muft have been circuitoufly 
reached in any other way. Juft as thefe conclu- 
fions may be, they commanded no refpe£l beyond 
the limits of the Chriftian community ; nay, they 
excited the fcorn of thofe who naturally faid — If 
thefe principles of piety could have been eftablifhed 
by abftract argument, a thinker fo profound as Ed- 
wards, and fo fond of this method, would not have 
gone about to prove them by the Bible. 

Deiftical and Atheiftical writers, availing them- 
felves eagerly of the abftracl: portions of the " In- 
quiry," and contemning its biblical conclufions, car- 
ried on the unfinifhed reafoningin their own man- 
ner; and when they had completed their work, 
turned to the faithful, and faid — Quarrel not with 
our labours, for the foundations were laid by one 
of yourfelves ! 

Notwithftanding this accidental refult of the ar- 
gument for moral caufation, as conducted by Ed- 
wards, this treatife muft be allowed to have 
achieved an important fervice for Chriftianity, in- 
afmuch as it has ftood like a bulwark in front of 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



principles which, whether or not they may hitherto 
have been Hated in the happieft manner, are of far 
deeper meaning than is any fectarian fcheme of 
doctrine, and apart from which, or if they were 
difowned, the Chriftian community would not long 
make good its oppofition to infidelity. If Calvi- 
nifm, ufing the term in its modern fenfe, were ex- 
ploded, a long time would not elapfe before evan- 
gelical doctrine of every fort would find itfelf driven 
into the gulf that had yawned to receive its rival. 

Whatever notions of an exaggerated fort may 
belong to fome Calvinifts, Calvinifm encircles or 
involves great truths, which, whether defended in 
fcriptural fimplicity of language or not, will never 
be abandoned while the Bible continues to be de- 
voutly read ; and which, if they might indeed be 
driven out of fight, would drag to the fame ruin 
every doctrine of revealed religion. As much as 
this might be affirmed and made good ; although 
he who mould undertake to fay it were fo to con- 
duct his argument as might make fix Calvinifts in 
feven his enemies. 

Yet few would affirm that the treatife on the 
Will is itfelf complete, or that it is not open to rea- 
fonable objection on the part of thofe who refufe to 
admit its conclufions, or that it leaves nothing to 
be defired in this department of theological fcience. 
Edwards achieved his immediate object — that of 
demolifhing the Arminian notion of contingency, 
as the blind law of human volitions ; and he did 



10 



ESSATS, ETC. 



more than this, for he effectively redeemed the doc- 
trines called Calviniftic from that fcorn with which 
the irreligious party, within and without the pale 
of Chriftianity, had been ufed to treat them ; and 
there is reafon alfo to furmife that, in the reaction 
which has counterpoifed the once triumphant Ar- 
minianifm of Englifli divinity, the influence of Ed- 
wards has been greater than thofe who have yielded 
to it have always confeffed. 

But if the " Inquiry on Freedom of Will " is to 
be regarded as a fcientific treatife, then we muft 
p rote ft againft that mixture of metaphyseal de- 
monftrations and fcriptural evidence which runs 
through it, breaking up the chain of argumenta- 
tion, and difparaging the authority of the Bible, by 
making it part and parcel with difputable abftrac- 
tions. 

But befides the improper mixture of abftract 
reafoning with fcriptural proof, the reader of Ed- 
wards will detect a confufion of another fort — lefs 
palpable indeed, but of not lefs fatal confequence — 
as to the confiftency of a philofophical argument — 
a confufion which holds intellectual philofophy far 
in the rear of the phyfical fciences. This error is 
that of mingling what is purely abftract with facts 
belonging to the phyfiology of the human mind. 
Even the reader who is little familiar with abftrufe 
fcience will often be confeious of a vague diffatif- 
faction, or latent fufpicion, that fome fallacy has 
pafled into the train of reafoning, although the link- 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGT. n 



ing of propofitions feems perfect. This fufpicion 
increafes in ftrength as he proceeds, and at length 
condenfes itfelf into the form of a proteft againft 
certain conclufions, notwithftanding their appa- 
rently neceflary connection with the premifes. 

The condition of purely abftraft truths is, that 
they might be expreffed by algebraic or other arbi- 
trary figns, and in that form made to pafs through 
the procefs of fyllogiftic reafoning ; certain conclu- 
fions being attained which muft be aflented to in- 
dependently of any reference to the a&ual confti- 
tution of human nature, or to that of other fentient 
beings. Abftra&ions of this order ftand parallel 
with the truths of pure mathematics ; and it may 
be faidof both that the human mind comprehends 
their properties and relations, and feels that the 
materials of its cogitation lie within its grafp, and 
need not be gathered from obfervation. 

Not fo as to our reafonings when the adual con- 
ftitution of either the material world, or of the 
mental, is the fubjecl of inquiry. When an argu- 
ment relates to the agency and moral condition of 
man, nothing fhould be taken for granted, or al- 
lowed to flow in the ftream of logical demonftra- 
tion, which at beft is queftionable, or which, whe- 
ther true or falfe, fhould be ftated as fimple matter 
of fact, and by no means confounded with thofe 
unchangeable truths which would be what they are, 
though no fuch being as man exifted. 

But owing to the abftrufe nature of the fubjecl, 



12 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



and to its not being fufceptible of palpable proof, 
problems belonging to the fcience of mind have 
commonly been attempted to be folved on this prin- 
ciple of confounding the abftraft with the phyfical. 

In the cafe of our availing ourfelves of the rea- 
foning of a writer like Edwards, it behoves us to 
take heed that we do juftice at once to him and to 
ourfelves ; to him, by not imputing to him, indivi- 
dually, a blame which belongs in common to meta- 
phyfico-theological writers of every age — -and to 
ourfelves, by yielding our aflent to his argument 
only fo far as it is purely of an abftraft kind, and 
holding ourfelves aloof from conclufions which in- 
volve phyfiological faffs which either were not con- 
fidered by the author, or perhaps were not known 
to him. 

Of what fort, we may afk, is the inquiry con- 
cerning human agency, free will, liberty, and ne- 
ceffity ? In other words, to what department of 
fcience does the controverfy belong, and on what 
ground is it to be argued ? And further, it may be 
afked, at what points does the fubjeft touch the 
conftitution and the movements of the human fyf- 
tem, individual and focial ? or in what fenfe is it a 
praftical queftion ? 

Unlefs, for the fake of an inference (foon to be 
mentioned) it might well be deemed unneceffary 
to affume, as at all a reafonable fuppofition, that the 
ordinary interefts of life are liable to interference 
from abftrufe problems of any kind — fuch, for in- 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



ftance, as are propounded in the controverfy con- 
cerning liberty and neceffity. There have indeed 
been feafons during which an interference of this 
fort was imagined to be proper ; and it may alfo 
have found more indulgence than was due to it 
within the circle of German philofophy ; but at 
prefent the force of common fenfe is too great, and 
the credit of abftract fpeculation is too fmall, to al- 
low room for queftions of this order. Or, even if 
it were otherwife, the fuppofition of a practical con- 
fequence belonging to the problem of moral caufa- 
tion would ftand difcharged by the leave of even 
the moft refolute impugners of common fenfe, who, 
not only in their perfonal conduct, but by explicit 
admiffions, excufe themfelves and others from pay- 
ing any more refpect to fuch fpeculations than what 
is thought due to the paradoxes of thofe who abound 
in learning and leifure. " When the Pyrrhonian," 
fays Hume, " awakes from his dream, he will be 
the firft to join in the laugh againft himfelf, and to 
confefs that all his objections are mere amufement, 
and can have no other tendency than to fhow the 
whimfical condition of mankind, who muft act, and 
reafon, and believe \ though they are not able, by 
their moft diligent inquiry, to fatisfy themfelves 
concerning the foundation of thefe operations, or 
to remove the objections that may be raifed againft 
them." 

Yet let us for a moment admit the fuppofition 
that doctrines fuch as thofe of the Pyrrhonift have 



14 ESSATS, ETC 

a claim to be liftened to before men can, with rea- 
fon or confiftency, either proceed to tranfadt the 
bufinefs of life or accept as certain any fyftem of 
belief, religious or philofophical. 

Let it be allowed, then, that the unfolved prob- 
lem concerning the alleged liberty of the human 
mind, and its exemption from the ftern conditions 
of phyfical caufation, does affe£i,or ought to affedr, 
not only our religious opinions, but alfo our no- 
tions, feelings, judgments, and conduit in every 
day life. 

That we may give every advantage to this fup- 
pofition, and may exempt it from entanglement 
with thofe recent theories of human nature which 
Chriftian men muft rejedt, we confent to take our 
dodtrine of moral caufation from the " Inquiry 
concerning Freedom of Will " 

Let it be granted that Edwards is quite fuc- 
cefsful in thofe fe6tions of his eflay in which he 
labours to prove that the dodtrine of neceffity, as 
held by him, perfeftly confifts with all true no- 
tions of virtue and of human accountability ; nay, 
that there neither is, nor can be, any virtue in the 
univerfe which is not founded upon this moral 
neceffity, as fet forth by this Chriftian philofopher. 
Confequently, the prejudice againft this do£lrine,as 
if it might favour fatalifm, and fo were of dangerous 
tendency in morals, is unfounded. 

This allowed on the fide of Edwards and his ar- 
gument, then we muft afk leave to advance a ftep 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY, 15 

on the other fide, as thus : — We are fuppofing the 
cafe, not of an acute and accomplifhed logical 
reader, but of an intelligent and fairly-educated 
man, competent to underftand whatever in our belt 
writers is indeed intelligible, and who reads what 
he reads for his perfonal improvement, and not as 
if he were about to pafs an examination upon it in 
his college. This is juft the cafe of nineteen out 
of twenty, or of ninety-nine out of a hundred, of 
thofe who read fuch works as Butler's Analogy, or 
Hume's EfTays, or Jonathan Edwards on Free Will. 

Now, fuch a reader of that efTay as we have de- 
fcribed, is likely to reach its laft page with a mixed 
feeling, which he might thus exprefs : — I cannot 
deny that this acute reafoner carries his point \ he 
tSj he muji be right ; for where can I find a break 
or a weak place in his chain of reafoning ? I may 
then difmifs any mifgivings that have haunted me 
in the perufal of the efTay, and refolve to take to 
myfelf the author's doctrine of moral caufation,as 
being a fure inference from admitted axioms. 

But of what fort are thofe mifgivings which we 
imagine to have haunted the mind of an intelligent 
reader of Edwards' efTay ? They are, we think, 
fuchasthefe. He feels that this firmly-jointed chain 
of demonftrative reafoning is Logic, but is not fact ; 
and that, whereas what the argument profeffes 
to have to do with is — human nature — that is to 
fay, the actual conftitution of a being who thinks, 
feels, and a£ts in conformity with the laws of his 



1 6 ESS ATS, ETC. 

ftructure, intellectual and moral — the ftrength and 
force of the author's reafoning confifl: in the due 
dependence and the artificial fequence of propofi- 
tions,that is to fay, of collocated words and phrafes, 
beneath which the ?natter of faff is tacitly aflumed, 
or is concealed and put out of fight. This irrefra- 
gable argument refembles, in its mode of reaching 
a conclufion, thofe ingenious paradoxes in which 
things the moft abfurd are made to appear incon- 
teftably certain. 

Unexpreffed mifgivings fuch as thefe, which we 
luppofe to trouble an intelligent reader of the Effay 
on Free Will, might wear themfelves away after 
a time, and leave him at eafe as to the foundnefs of 
the author's argument but in the courfe of his dif- 
curfive ftudies he is ftartled by the difcovery that 
Jonathan Edwards, the Chriftian theologian and the 
devout Calviniftic teacher, has been hailed as a 
mafter in philofophy, and a powerful coadjutor by 
the chiefs and apoftles of modern unbelief, and even 
of atheifm. As he follows the courfe of thought 
in England, America, France, Germany, during the 
laft hundred years, he finds this Chriftian writer 
travelling in company with the lateft of the mo- 
dern champions of materialiftic pantheifm, upon 
the fame road ! 

At this point his firft vague mifgivings are fup- 
planted by deep-felt apprehenfions or alarms ; and, 
if he be a Chriftian man, he doubts whereunto he 
fhall be led while yielding himfelf to the guidance of 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 17 

a logician whofe demonftrations, though irrefiftible, 
are welcomed by the preachers of impiety. There 
muft then be a fallacy fomewhere in this chain of 
reafoning ; but he will believe it to occur lower 
down in the chain than where Jonathan Edwards 
concludes his argument. With fome fuch unde- 
fined and faving belief as this the intelligent Chris- 
tian reader refolves to make himfelf contented. 
Pantheifts, materialifts, atheifts, in availing them- 
felves of the hard logic of this Chriftian writer, have 
no doubt committed a robbery, or they have in- 
ferted a fallacy of their own, and have drawn from 
it a mifchievous inference which he would have 
abhorred. 

In this manner fuch difquieting thoughts may 
be put to reft \ but a confequence enfues which is 
not of the lefs ill influence becaufe it creeps upon all 
minds 5 filently and unperceived. What is it, then, 
that, in fuch cafes, takes place in the minds of 
intelligent and fairly-educated perfons — the mafs of 
an inftrufted Chriftian community ? We fliall 
attempt to give fome anfwer to this queftion \ and 
let it be underftood that, throughout this argument, 
we quite exclude whatever may attach to the 
narrow prejudices or the mifconceptions of the un- 
educated — religious or irreligious. We have in 
view the taught, the reflexive, the rightly-minded, 
among our Chriftian communities. 



c 



i8 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



SECTION II. 

EVERYTHING within him— his intellectual 
and his moral confcioufnefs entire — contra- 
dicts, to a man of found mind, the paradoxes of fa- 
talifm. When he is told that caufation is all of 
one kind, that there are in the univerfe no caufes 
but phyfical caufes, that there is no meaning in the 
word Liberty, that the diftinction between virtue 
and vice is an illufion or a prejudice, and that it is 
abfurd either to praife or to blame the actions of 
men ; — when doctrine like this is advanced, it 
meets its merited contemptuous difregard, or abhor- 
rence, from every mind that is not incurably fo 
phifticated or debauched. 

All things contradict monftrous paradoxes of 
this order ; — the inftincts of reafon and of the moral 
fenfe, the very ftructure of the focial fyftem, the 
procedures of law and political fociety, all pro- 
claim and affirm a contrary doctrine. The man 
who in his clofet may for an hour have loft his 
grafp of common fenfe, while he has liftened to 
fophiftries of this kind, recovers his pofition, and 
regains his hold of reafon the moment when he 
takes his place anew in the domeftic circle ; or if 
this means of intellectual reftoration were not 
enough, his recovery will be fecured by his return 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 19 



to the bufinefs and the refponfibilities of the ex- 
ternal world. 

All may now feem to be fet right ; — and fo it 
would be if we always dealt equitably with our 
feelings and ftates of mind at different times ; but 
it is not fo : a doubt or a diftruft which, if valid at 
all, muft take effeft alike upon two or more ob- 
jects, orinterefts, orperfons, is perhaps thoroughly 
cleared up and difcharged from our thoughts in its 
bearing upon one of them ; but it is left, as we 
may fay, to hover over or to befet another of them. 
This mould not be ; but among the incoherences 
that attach to our human nature this is one. We 
do not always make thorough work in putting our 
own minds in order : perhaps very feldom do fo^ 

It is certain that whatever we affirm to be the con- 
ftitution of man, as to his volitions, whatever may 
be the conditions of that liberty which he believes 
to be his prerogative, it is the fame in all its appli- 
cations. Man is free, or he is the paffive creature 
of phyfical caufation in all things alike. He is not 
free in one fphere, or one department of his daily 
life, and neceffitated in another department ; he is 
not blameworthy and praifeworthy and refponfible 
fix days of his life, and not fo one day in every 
feven ; he is not rewardable and puniftiable on the 
exchange or in the market, but not fo at church. 
He muft confent to be dealt with, and he muft 
deal with himfelf, at all times, and on all occa- 
fions, on one and the fame principle. Whatever 



20 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



fenfe we attach to the abftraft terms Liberty and 
Neceffity, this fame fenfe muft be adhered to — 
Sunday and Monday. 

But now, if we are accuftomed to give ftri£t 
attention to our own ftates of mind, or feelings, at 
different times or on different occafions, we fhall 
be compelled to admit that fomething far fhort of 
this even-handed dealing with ourfelves is often 
allowed to have its courfe. A man who would 
think himfelf infulted if, on the broad ways of 
common life, he were accufed of adopting the prin- 
ciple of fatalifm or phyfical caufation, as profeffed 
by the atheiftic materialift, goes home to his ftudy, 
fpends his hour of liftlefs muling with fome writers 
of this clafs, and yields himfelf, in refpe£t of his 
abftra£t moral and religious belief, to this very 
principle. He is a convert in his clofet to a doc- 
trine which, if imputed to him out of doors by 
another, would imply that he is fool or knave. 

What enfues, then, is this : — Thoughtful men 
fall into the ufage of fuppofing that human nature 
ftands related to two worlds — the world of common 
life, and the world of moral and religious feeling — 
on two different and contradictory principles, or 
according to two independent and difcordant fyf- 
tems of law. Under one of thefe fyftems he enter- 
tains a lively and efficacious fenfe of refponfibility 
and duty. God forbid that he fhould fail in any 
of its requirements ! But under the other of thefe 
fyftems his convi£Hons have become confufed and 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 21 

vague, his notion of refponfibility has entangled 
itfelf with ambiguous abftractions, his fenfe of duty 
has loft its vivacity, the moral feeling has fuffered 
paralyfis : in a word, fo far as his morality con- 
nects itfelf with his religious belief, he is a feeble 
creature, an invalid. 

If then we are required to fay what we mean in 
deprecating the intrufion of Logic upon the ground 
of Theology, this is our meaning : — We deprecate 
the trufting ourfelves to the certainty of wordy de- 
monftrations in inftances in which thefe methods 
of argument, while they avail nothing for the dis- 
covery of truth, give encouragement to that befet- 
ting illufion which impels us to divorce morals and 
piety from their due companionfhip with the mo- 
tives and energies of common life. It is this parting 
off of the one from the other which fo much per- 
plexes the Chriftian moralift, who finds it often a 
talk beyond his ability to give vividnefs and reality 
to the feelings of men when he would awaken in 
them the fenfe of obligation in matters of religion. 

Juft in proportion as fatalifm, under any of its 
phafes and difguifes, is mown and felt to be untrue 
in human nature, fo much the greater reaction 
will have place upon morals and piety, fo long as, 
upon this undefined ground, it keeps its pofition at 
all. This fact Ihould be well underftood, for the 
contrary might feem the more probable confe- 
quence : it might be conjectured that, when a 
healthy and vigorous mind difabufes itfelf, as by a 



22 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



convulfive effort, of the paradoxes of fatalifm, as 
related to common life, it would difmifs them alto- 
gether from its confcioufnefs, and refolve to be 
enfnared no more in the fame manner. This, 
however, is not always, nor perhaps often, what 
takes place. 

It is common to human nature (we need not 
here ftay to inquire why) to throw itfelf off from 
the familiar ground of proximate and intelligible 
caufes, and to feek fuch as are abftrufe, difficult, 
and ultimate, whenever it is agitated by undefined 
and powerful emotions. We have in this fail one 
of the fources of fuperflitiori ; and as it is in a fenfe 
true that fear is the mother of the gods, fo, in a 
fenfe, is it alfo true that anxiety, defpondency, and 
the impatience of pain and forrow, are teachers of 
metaphyfics. It may be doubted whether certain 
profound fpeculations would at all have fuggefted 
themfelves to the human mind, if life had been a 
courfe of equable profperity. It may be queftioned 
whether the inhabitants of worlds unvifited by evil 
— how large foever their intelligence may be — have 
ever thought of afking, What is virtue ? or, What 
is the liberty of a moral agent ? 

The conflicts of hope and fear in the heart, and 
the affaults that are made upon hope by the fcep- 
ticifm or the mockery of thofe around us, impel us 
naturally, yet unwifely, to throw up the good and 
proper evidence which, though it be fimple, and 
intelligible, and fufficient, does not open to the 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 23 

mind a depth profound enough to give room for 
the mighty toffings of the foul in its hour of dif- 
trefs : — The only teftimony or proof that is ftri£lly 
applicable to the point in queftion is thoughtleffly 
reje&ed ; and in an evil moment we tranfgrefs the 
limits of fafety and of comfort, and pafs from the 
(pvaiKtx to the lAETOLtpvo-utoL. When this unhappy 
miftake has been committed, two courfes offer 
themfelves ; — -the one is to beat up and down 
through the regions of night whereupon we have 
entered, until we find, or fancy that we have found, 
folid footing, and difcern a glimmering of light : — 
the other courfe is, by a buoyant effort of good 
fenfe, to fpring up at once from the abyfs, and 
effect our return to the trodden and familiar furface 
of things. 

The procefs is a frequent and familiar one, 
which leads the mind to reafon on important occa- 
fions in a manner which it fliuns as abfurd in pa- 
rallel inftances of a trivial fort. The man who 
lofes his footing in the ftreet, and befmears a new 
fuit with mud, makes mirth of the fimple accident. 
But if, when he is on his way to accomplifh fome 
momentous purpofe — to make a fortune or to 
refcue one — he falls and breaks a limb, and, as the 
confequence, irretrievably forfeits the only aufpi- 
cious moment of his life, he then looks at the phi- 
lofophy of the mifhap ; and, as he lies on his couch, 
meditates and reafons concerning Fate and Provi- 
dence until he has bewildered his beft convi&ions, 



2 4 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



and, in the gloominefs of his forrow, has perfuaded 
himfelf that there is no heavenly fuperintendence 
of human affairs — that chance is miftrefs of the 
world; and at length he concludes that fore- 
thought, prudence, and activity, not lefs than faith 
and piety, are a fpecious folly. Perhaps he re- 
folves henceforward to purfue nothing beyond the 
fenfualities of the hour. Neverthelefs, this fame 
man, whom calamity has thus taught to be a me- 
taphyfician, adheres ftill, on all trivial occafions, to 
the maxims of vulgar good fenfe ; his philofophical 
principles he takes up and lays down, according to 
the magnitude or the infignificance of the bufinefs 
in hand, and is not confiftently fage or fimple 
through the courfe of a fingle hour. He would 
deem it a folly to attempt to avoid the deftined 
track of a bullet that is whizzing through the air ; 
and yet he flinches from a fplaflh of dirt ! But 
fliould he not remember that the very fame awful 
fate that rules the flight of leaden balls, prefides, 
not lefs arbitrarily, over the whirling of ftraws, the 
drifting of duft, and the proje£lile curves of mud ? 

Fatalifm, in any of its forms, has, we fuppofe, 
been driven off from the road-ways of common 
life, and has been rebutted in its attempt to inter- 
fere with the energies of the day; neverthelefs it 
has not been logically refuted : it holds its ground 
as a theory of the univerfe. Logical philofophers, 
and along with them logical theologians, affirm 
that hitherto they have not been overthrown in 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



argument; — the vulgar turn away from their teach- 
ing; but all who think aflent to their do6trine. 

What happens, then, is this — that intelligent and 
religioufiy-minded men, liftening to this boaft, 
filently yield themfelves to it 3 and with an unquiet 
feeling bow, in their religious meditative hour, to 
the monfter tyrant that affirms his right to hold 
fway in the fpiritual world. 

Thus it has happened that the momentous in- 
terefts of the future life, as fet forth by Chriftianity, 
becaufe they profoundly move the foul, lead both 
the defenders and the impugners of a documentary 
religion afide from the only pertinent inquiry — Are 
its fa£ts duly eftabliflied, according to the ordinary 
maxims of teftimony, while they difcufs contro- 
verfies to which religion is related only in com- 
mon with the moft familiar movements of focial 
life. Let philofophers deny, if they pleafe, the 
exiftence of a material world : but why fliould the 
teachers of Chriftianity, rather than any other 
clafs of men, come forward to oppofe the paradox ? 
If that paradox has, in fa£t, any meaning at all, or 
if it carries any inference which men ought to 
liften to, then fliould lawyers leave their courts, 
as well as divines their pulpits, and merchants 
their markets, and phyficians their hofpitals, to 
join in the debate. If any perfons are interefted 
in this abftrufe queftion, all are fo alike — demon- 
ftrably all are interefted in one and the fame 
degree. Or let philofophers turn about and deny 



26 



ESSATS, ETC. 



the exiftence, not of the material, but of the im- 
material world. All men, in this inftance, as well 
as in the other, and all human interefts, duties, 
functions, hopes, and fears, are either alike con- 
cerned in the refutation of this dogma, or may 
alike, in their feveral circles of practical activity, 
look upon it with indifference. Or again, let phi- 
lofophers affirm that an iron fatality — an immoveable 
fequency of phyfical caufes and effects — rules the 
world. If there be any practical inference what- 
ever — any inference which demands refpe£lful 
hearing—attaching to this do£trine, then that con- 
fequence bears evenly upon all activities, upon all 
motives, upon all reafons of conduft, upon all 
calculations of futurity; and ftiould either be 
allowed to arreft the entire machinery of human 
life, or fliould be utterly forgotten and negle&ed, 
whenever men are called to a£t and feel as ra- 
tional and moral beings. 

It enters into the definition of metaphyfical 
problems — that they are univerfals. To bring 
them, therefore, down upon one clafs of inftances, 
to the exclufion of other inftances, is an enormous 
folecifm. To fingle out Chriftianity from the 
crowd of human affairs and interefts, and to affail 
it, fo fingled out, with alleged demonftrations 
which, by their very nature, are equally true of 
all things, or falfe of all, is the fame fort of pro- 
ceeding, as if a mathematician, after demonftra- 
ting the properties of the triangle, were to apply 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



his do£lrine only to fuch triangles as are formed 
by the rafters and joifts of a roof. 

Thofe who at the prefent time would avow 
themfelves as, in the main, the difciples of Jonathan 
Edwards, and affirm that they regard the " Eflay on 
Freedom of Will" as an exhauftive argument, 
leaving nothing to be defired on that fide, will pro- 
teft againft the unfairnefs of the attempt to give 
him his place among fatalifts, or to admit that he 
has given any occafion of triumph to modern 
materialifts, pantheifts, atheifts. 

If on the prefent occafion we confent to this 
challenge, which brings an eminently devout man 
over to a pofition among the enemies of all belief, 
we muft do fo on the ground of reafons fuch as 
thefe following : — 

The extreme form of philofophic fatalifm is that 
which explicitly, and without difguife, affirms the 
diftin£tion between phyfical and moral caufation 
to be imaginary — an illufion — a vulgar prejudice. 
This dogma has perhaps never been conveyed in 
Ampler or more intelligible terms than in thofe — 
often quoted — of Diderot: — "Regardez-y de pres, 
et vous verrez que le mot liberte eft un mot vide 
de fens ; qu'il n'y a point, et qu'il ne peut y avoir 

d'etres libres Le motif nous eft toujours 

exterieur, etranger, attache ou par une nature, ou 
par une caufe quelconque, qui n'eft pas nous. . . . • 
Mais Pil n'y a point de liberte, il n'y a point d' ac- 
tion qui merite la louange ou le blame \ il ny a ni 



28 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



vice, ni vertu, rien dont il faille recompenfer ou 

chatier II n'y a qu'une forte des caufes 

a proprement parler ; ce font les caufes phyjiques. 
II n'y a qu'une forte de neceffite, c'eft la meme 
pour tous les etres." 

Recent writers, whom we need not cite, not in- 
tending to enter into controverfy with them, have 
laboured to conceal the offenfivenefs of this doc- 
trine, and to render it lefs repugnant to the reafon 
and confcioufnefs of the mafs of men, by means of 
elaborate and ingenious myftifications ; all which, 
however, when given in the feweft words, can mean 
nothing lefs, nothing elfe than this : — Human ac- 
tions are as " the circumftances" and " thedifpo- 
fition and this difpofition, taken at any moment 
of a man's life, is the produdt of an antecedent 
feries of circumftances, interior and exterior — ani- 
mal, and, as we fay — moral, which have wrought 
together to make him what he is. This dodtrine, 
whatever may be the foftening or the glozings that 
are attached to it, we muft take leave to fpeak of 
as identical with that profefled by Diderot, and cited 
above. 

Now, let everything be granted to the full that 
can fairly be affirmed on behalf of the author of the 
" EiTay on Freedom of Will," for the purpofe of 
bringing him off clear of any alTociation with writers 
of this atheiftic clafs; let itbe faid that thisChriftian 
divine oppofeshimfelf ftrenuoufly, and triumphantly 
too, to the irreligious dodrines of the fatalifts ; 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



that if the completenefs of his exculpation of him- 
felf in this behalf is not perceived and admitted, the 
fault is attributable to the reader's own confufion 
of mind 5 and his inability to underftand an abftrufe 
argument : grant all this, or more, and yet the fact 
ftands before us that a large proportion of perfons — 
the intelligent and the educated, who may have 
read the effay, and who, at the moment when cer- 
tain portions of it are under the eye, believe them- 
felves to apprehend the author's reafonings and dis- 
tinctions, quickly lofe what they thought they had 
held, and relapfe into an intellectual condition of a 
very ambiguous fort. Queftion them categorically, 
and they will fay, " Edwards is no fatalift;" but afk 
them to give you the grounds of the diftinction 
which they draw between his doctrine and that of 
Diderot, and they would acknowledge themfelves 
perplexed ; they would have recourfe to the book 
itfelf, if at hand, and mow you the page on which 
you may read for yourfelf the author's exculpatory 
averments and diftinctions. 

Diftinctions of an abftrufe kind, which are not 
underftood without an effort, and which few minds 
can retain for any length of time, may abundantly fuf- 
fice for fome purpofes, but they prove themfelves to 
be wholly infufficient in relation to other purpofes ; 
as, for inftance, in relation to the agencies and ener- 
gies, the obligations and the requirements of every- 
day life, a very little of argument may be quite enough 
to fave a found mind from its entanglement with 



30 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



the paradoxes and the fophifms of the fatalift. But 
it will be quite otherwife when the fame mind, the 
fame healthy good fenfe, falls in upon itfelf, to con- 
tend, as it may, with the very fame paradoxes and 
fophifms, thought of in their bearing upon the firft 
principles of morals, and upon the elements of ab- 
ftra£t theology. In this dim region, and on this 
ground, the man, well taught and thoughtful as we 
fuppofe him to be, finds himfelf grappling in the 
dark with an adverfary whofe power to injure him 
may be greater than he thinks. 

The religious man, ftruggling with giant doubts 
that threaten the very life of his foul, will find him- 
felf every daylefs and lefs able to draw comfort or 
confidence from nice diftinctions or fubtile demon- 
ftrations, fuch as thofe are which had availed — as 
he thought — to refcue the argument of Edwards 
from its apparent connection with the fatalifm of 
pantheifts and atheifts. 

We come round again, then, to our point, and 
affirm that, when Logic interferes with Theology, 
it may do more harm than thofe think of who refort 
to it as a means of advancing our religious know- 
ledge. But it may be faid, If Logic be valid, and 
if its refults are demonftrably certain, who fhall ftay 
it in its courfe or repel it, as if it were an intrufion ? 
If logicians canfo eftablim their pofition in any de- 
partment of human thought — if they can fo fortify 
themfelves there thatwe cannot drive them off from 
their ground — who is it that prefumes to find fault? 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



The mafter of Logic, Ariftotle, has taught his fol- 
lowers to be fearlefs, if only they adhere to his me- 
thods of affault and defence. 

And how fearleffly did this mighty reafoner, who 
wielded fo long the iron fceptre of a wordy defpo- 
tifm, affirm things to be, which are not ! The in- 
fiances are familiar to every one who is converfant 
with the hiftory of philofophy. 

What we mean by Logic, when we thus depre- 
cate its interference with Theology, is the attempt, 
by the formal collocation of propofitions, to reach 
conclufions in matters where the unknown is in- 
volved, and is commingled with what is known t 
us, either as matter of confcioufnefs, or of obferva- 
tion and experiment. We afk leave here to bring 
in the aid of an illuftration, not intending to pufh 
it further than fhall feem fair. 

" It has lately been furmifed by fome adventu- 
rous fpirits among us that great, nay, incalculable 
effects of a mechanic fort may be drawn from — 
who fhall believe it ? — the employment of the va- 
pour that arifes in bubbles, as we know, from the 
furface of water on the boil. But that this ftrange 
furmife is without foundation, and that the hopes 
vainly built thereon fhall turn out to be nothing 
better than a bubble, may eafily be proved, and 
may be made evident to all men's underftandings 
that will give heed to the reafon of things, as fhall 
now be fhown. 

" Let us firft afk what this vapour or fteam is 



32 ESSAYS, ETC. 

whereof we are now to fpeak, and from the adtion 
of which fuch great things are expefted to come. 
It is, we are told — and we are willing to grant it — 
it is the offspring of the combination of two ele- 
ments, namely, fire and water. But now, before 
we inquire concerning the inherent properties of 
either of thefe elements — feparately, we wifh this 
only to be granted to us — and it is an axiom ma- 
nifeftly certain or felf-evident, and which, we fup- 
pofe, none will call in queftion who retain the fa- 
culty of reafon, and it is this — that there will never 
be found, in the fum or product of two quantities 
or matters of any fort, more than is contained in 
the two feparately eftimated. To imagine the con- 
trary of this axiom were the fame thing as to fay 
that two and three put together make feven, or 
any other number. Certainly, we need give our- 
felves little pains for eftablifhing what is fo mani- 
feft. 

" Now then we come to a more particular in- 
quiry concerning the nature of thefe two elements 
— fire and water. We take, firft, this laft. In com- 
parifon of the three elements, fire being now put 
out of view — (there are only four elements, as we 
well know, for the notion of a quinteffence is a 
mere phantafy) — water is the weaker of the three; 
in refpeft of earth, it is weak and unftable ; for let 
but an infant apply a finger to its furface and it 
forthwith gives way, or yields itfelf to fo feeble a 
motion. Moreover, under the rays of the fun, 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 33 

itfelf utterly vanimes and ceafes to be ; and that, in 
refpe£t of air, water is the weaker of the two, we 
may either reft fatisfied in that teftimony which 
fpeaks of c mighty winds,' or we may appeal to the 
experience of men in fuch inftances as thefe : — fay 
that water has gotten pofleffion of a goodly gar- 
ment, thoroughly fodden thereby ; now, let only 
this fame garment, whether it be cloak or meet of 
any fort, be hung up in the way — not of a mighty 
tempeft, but in the courfe of the gentleft breeze or 
current of air : what happens in this cafe is this — 
that the ftronger of the two, namely, air, drives 
forth and diflodges the weaker, namely, water, fo 
that in a ftiort fpace of time this cloth or garment 
is found to have changed mafters \ for water hath 
confeffed its feeblenefs in refpect of air ; elfe how 
can we believe that it would fo foon, and without 
noife, have abandoned what it had taken to itfelf, 
unlefs, indeed, it were confcious of its impotency 
as compared with its rival? Let this inftance then 
fuffice for proving our firft point — namely, that 
water is a creature weaker than the other elements ; 
for we need not argue its weaknefs as compared 
with earth. 

" But now as to fire — the other ingredient of va- 
pour or fteam, as we are told. Some men will be 
ready to affirm that fire is indeed of a moft powerful 
nature, and fo we grant it to be in a certain fenfe ; but 
let us confider of what fort or quality is that power 
as to its metaphyfic nature. We fay it is of that 

D 



34 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



fort which is proper to a nature which, more than 
any other known to us, is hungry, indigent, exi- 
geant, and negative. How elfe is it that men have 
come to fpeak of fire with dread, calling it, and 
rightly fo, the 4 all-devouring element?' Of fo hun- 
gry a nature is this element, that it is ever crying 
c Give, give and never does it reft content until 
it hath eaten up, and fwallowed with greedinefs, all 
things near it, ftiort of the very hardeft matters, 
fuch as rocks, which it hath no ftomach for. Fire 
is much like thofe fturdy beggars who, meeting men 
on the highway, a(k alms, but, if denied, will take 
by force all that a man has, to the laft rag. Who 
is it then, things being fo, that (hall think to feek 
for aid and help in any great work from that which, 
of all things known to us, is itfelf the moft in need, 
and which itfelf a&ually dies and comes to nothing, 
or to pale afhes only, when it hath quite finiftied its 
meal ? 

"We may then quickly fum up this controverfy, 
and fhall appeal to the common fenfe and experi- 
ence of men in thus concluding, that this expedi- 
tion, entertained by certain overweening men, that, 
by conjoining the weakeft of the four elements with 
that one which is the moft greedy and indigent of 
the four, they fhall be able to further their me- 
chanic devices — is a great folly ; and fure we are 
that the hopes which are built upon any fuch fan- 
ciful notion as this, contrary as it is to the com- 
mon fenfe of mankind, fhall turn out to be much 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



like that whereon they are founded, namely, mere 
vapour or fmoke, to the difmay of thefe dreamers, 
and the merriment of fober men that are lookers on." 

Of fuch quality as this was a large proportion 
of the reafonings of paft times, and not a little of 
thefe times. But what fliould have been the treat- 
ment given it ? Not furely to attempt a courfe of 
counter-reafoning, refting upon the fame ground 
of imagined analogies, and of verbal antithefes \ — 
but an immediate appeal to fa£ts. Is there any 
mechanic force in fteam ? — Try. 

In any inftance of a controverfy concerning 
matters in relation to which an appeal to fails, or 
to dire£t evidence, or to undoubted experience, 
may be made, this fame mode of determining prob- 
lems is, of courfe, to be reforted to. But is this 
the cafe in the inftance of the ancient controverfy 
concerning the liberty of human volitions ? We 
might think it warrantable to aflume as much in 
reading the noted " Eflay" of Jonathan Edwards ; 
for in almoft every fediion he makes an appeal, 
more or lefs dire&, to the experience and con- 
fcioufnefs of men. But then, in thofe elaborately- 
compared paragraphs in which he labours to 
drive his opponent into fome glaring abfurdity, 
his antithetic propofitions, are little better than 
compages of words — carrying with them a great 
weight of apparent meaning ; but, for finding 
the real value of which, we muft go down into 
the depths of the relationftiip of mind and matter, 



36 



ESSATS, ETC. 



in the animal ftru&ure, and in human nature, efpe- 
cially. Thefe ever-recurrent phrafes, about the 
cc Will" and its conditions, the bandying of which 
from fide to fide makes up a nine-tenths of the 
effay, aflame the very matter in debate. The 
demonftration is indeed irrefiftible, if only we are 
willing to let pals thefe wonted phrafes, unex- 
amined, and to refrain from inquiring concerning 
their correfpondence with the ftructure of human 
nature. But if human nature, and if its inner con- 
ftitution be in queftion, then it is not formal Logic 
that can avail us for the folution of the problem, 
even to the value of a ftraw. 

Within the compafs of this often-repeated half- 
dozen of phrafes, about "the Will" and its " de- 
termining motives," there is embraced the pro- 
foundeft myfteries of the univerfe of intellectual 
and moral life. Say that thefe are myfteries 
w T hich will ever defy the fcrutiny of man : be it 
fo ; but this is certain, that queftions of this order 
are only involved in greater perplexity when 
treated in any fuch manner as that which is at- 
tempted by Jonathan Edwards. We may amufe 
ourfelves with feeming demonftrations in this ftyle, 
as long as we pleafe ; — we may, as above fuppofed, 
fhow it to be abfurd to look for mechanic force in 
the bubbles that play on the furface of boiling 
water : but let us look to the doings of the fteam- 
engine, and be fickened of nugatory wordy reafon- 
ings about " the nature of things." Or we may 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGT. 37 



prove it to be abfurd to talk of any fort of liberty 
in the univerfe of thought and feeling which does 
not refolve itfelf into an eternal feries of phyfical 
caufation. We may do this, and then find our- 
felves held in the relentlefs grafp of that pantheifm 
which worftiips eternal law as the parent of all 
things : — we may do this, and then find that our 
only means of efcape from fo terrible a defpotifm is 
— the irrefiftible confcioufnefs of a life within us 
which is altogether of another order. 



SECTION III. 

BUT if Logic — the Logic of words and propofi- 
tions — may not help us in phyfical fcience, or 
in making known the conftitution of the material 
world, may it not yield its aid in determining thofe 
controverfies that have arifen among Chriftian men 
concerning the meaning of holy Scripture ? 

Logic will indeed help us when the terms and 
the propofitions in which it deals contain only fuch 
notions as lie within the grafp of the human mind ; 
but not at all when difputation arifes concerning 
things that are occult, or that touch upon the in- 
finite and the unfeen. Not indeed as if fuch con- 
troverfies may not be determined in a manner that 
is fatisfactory to ingenuous minds j but then this 



38 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



defirable confummation muft be fought for altoge- 
ther on another ground. 

A Logic that is more exadl may eafily be made 
to demolifh, or drive off from the field a Logic that 
is lefs exaft. Coherent reafoning triumphs eafily 
over incoherent reafoning. Jonathan Edwards 
floors Whitby and the Pelagians. Calvinifm is a 
more compa£Hy-jointed fyftem than Arminianifm; 
and therefore it holds its ground boldly as oppofed 
to its adverfary. This may eafily be granted, and 
then the two queftions return upon us- — How does 
each ftand related to the conftitution of the human 
mind ? and how to the teftimony of Scripture ? 
Neither of thefe queftions finds a folution in thofe 
writings of the laft age, or of earlier times, which 
have treated them as if determinable in fcholaftic 
ftyle. We fpeak now of the controverfy between 
Calvinifts and Arminians or Pelagians, as a biblical 
controverfy fimply, and we remit the confideration 
of it as related to the philofophy of human nature. 

The fruitleflhefs of any fuch method of con- 
ducting a biblical controverfy might well be argued 
from the inftance of the " Inquiry Concerning 
Freedom of Will the acknowledged iiiperiority 
of this treatife to works with which it might pro- 
perly be compared — a fuperiority confeffed by 
philofophers as well as by divines — and its exemp- 
tion from the befetting fins of polemical literature, 
point it out as an unexceptionable inftance. Yet, 
what has been the refult? A fignal fervice has 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



been rendered by it to the caufe of certain mo- 
mentous truths ; but this fervice has accrued indi- 
rectly ; while it has failed to bring the controverfy 
between Calvinifts and Arminians to an iffue. The 
metaphyfics of Edwards demolifhed the metaphy- 
fics of Whitby. This was a matter of courfe ; 
for the philofophy of Arminianifm could not endure 
a rigid analyfis. Moreover, the metaphyfics of 
Edwards has availed to impofe a degree of refpect 
upon the flippancy of philofophers. But then — not 
to infift upon the fact that the "Inquiry" has 
become almoft the text-book of infidelity — it has 
not brought the abftract argument home to the 
purely theological difficulty. It has left things 
where they were in this refpect, only with the dis- 
advantage of fuggefting a tacit conviction — that 
what Edwards could not effect can never be 
effected. The apparently incompatible propofi- 
tions may therefore be affirmed, that, while he, as 
the champion of Calvinifm, has achieved a victory, 
and has driven his antagonifts from their ground, 
he has perpetuated the religious difference by the 
mere fact of having failed in his attempt to com- 
pofe it. Is it, then, to be defired that a fecond 
philofophic Calvinift ftiould undertake the tafk of 
convincing Arminians by fcholaftic Logic, and fo 
of bringing them to a cordial acquiefcence in the 
meaning of certain portions of the Scriptures ? 
Surely not. 

An accordance among Chriftians in matters of 



4 o 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



belief muft be the refult, not of the perfe&ion- 
ment of abftradt theology, bat of a better under- 
ftanding of the ftrudhire and intention of the do- 
cument of faith, which, unlike any other writing, 
is at once the work of human minds, and not lefs 
abfolutely the work of the Divine Mind. As a 
human work — as a collection of ancient treatifes, 
letters, and hiftories, compofed by almoft as many 
authors as there are feparate pieces — it is con fef- 
fedly liable to the ordinary conditions of other an- 
cient literature ; and not merely to the critical, 
but to the logical conditions alfo that belong to 
the products of the human mind ; and therefore 
when interrogated in relation to certain abftracl 
pofitionsj derived, not from it/elf, nor known to its 
writers, but from the variable theological fyftems 
of fucceffive ages, it will yield not a few apparent 
contrarieties. 

But the Scriptures claim no refpect as authorities 
in religion, unlefs they be received as, in the fulleft 
fenfe, a Divine work. As fuch, they muft have 
their peculiar conditions ; and thefe (or the moft 
important of them) fpring from the fact, that they 
contain information, explicit or implied, concern- 
ing more fyftems of things than one, or more orders 
of beings than one. But then this genuine in- 
formation confifts juft of thofe portions, or frag- 
ments, or fegments, of fuch fyftems, or of fuch 
feries of caufes, as involve practical inferences, 
important to the fpecial purpofe of reftoring men 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 41 



to virtue. It muft follow that the harmony of 
thefe disjointed portions will never come within the 
range of the methods of human fcience ; for human 
fcience is drawn from one fyftem only, and is imper- 
fe£f> even in relation to that one fyftem. 

Illuftrations are always more or lefs faulty, and 
yet they may ferve a good purpofe when advanced 
fimply as fuch ; and are not urged as if they were 
proofs or arguments. Let it then be fuppofed that, 
to a number of intelligent perfons, inftrudted in at 
leaft the elements of mathematical fcience, there 
were to be given — not a diagram or defcription — 
but fome of the diftinguifhing, and fome of the 
moft recondite properties of the three conic fec- 
tions — the ellipfis, the parabola, and the hyperbola; 
and let it be demanded of them, not only to find 
curves poffeffing precifely fuch properties, but to 
find one regular and fimple figure which fhould 
contain the three harmonioufly upon its furface. 
Now it muft be granted, as hypothetically poflible, 
that fome one of thefe perfons, either by a happy 
accident, or by force of his intelligence, might at 
length produce the cone, and demonftrate upon it 
the feveral properties of the theorem. But, to 
make our illuftration complete, it fhould be fup- 
pofed that no fuch figure as a cone had ever adtually 
been feen or thought of by the perfons to whom 
the problem is given. What then would be the 
probable event ? May we not aflume it as likely 
that each individual, attaching himfelf at the firft 



42 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



moment to the properties of fome one of the three 
propounded curves, and giving his attention exclu- 
fively to its peculiarities, and fucceeding, perhaps, 
in the attempt to reconcile thefe feparate condi- 
tions among themfelves, would be inclined to im- 
pugn, as necejfarily falfe, thofe procefTes by which 
his companions were finding the other two curves ; 
and, being fatisfied as to the foundnefsof hisownrea- 
foning, would deem that of his friends abfolutely 
irreconcilable with it. And fo it muft feem until the 
one true harmonizing figure is a&ually produced. 

And yet how foon might a fierce controverfy 
arife among the perplexed inquirers ! Flow foon 
would there take place a feparation of the partifans 
of the ellipfis, the parabola, and the hyperbola ! 
The friends of the firft of the curves would think 
themfelves juftified in denouncing the hyperbolifts 
as extravagant heretics ; while thefe, and with 
exactly equal reafon, would hold in contempt the 
timidity of the elliplifts. Meanwhile, the para- 
bolifts, much admiring their own moderation, and 
not doubting that it was they alone who held the 
happy middle-way upon which truth loves to walk, 
and hence believing themfelves qualified to a£t as 
mediators between the extreme parties, would 
gravely fay much that was very plaufible, and ex- 
ceedingly well intended ; but they would not, in 
fact, advance even a fingle ftep toward a true con- 
ciliation of the difference ; — for this fimple reafon 
— that they are juft as far as their companions 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



from knowing the adtual principle of explanation. 
The parabola may feem to be, but it is not in fa£t, 
or in any degree, a reconciling truth between the 
ellipfis and the hyperbola ; for, in truth, the ellipfis 
and the hyperbola are not at variance. Mean- 
time the controverfy, although it tends to no fatif- 
fadtory iffue, is producing thefe two ill confequences 
(not to mention the excitement of bad feelings 
among friends) namely, that thofe of the company 
whofe temper was the moft calm and fceptical 
would be haunted by troublefome fufpicions, as if 
he who had propofed the problem had made fport 
of the ignorance of all, by affirming things that are 
ftrifty paradoxical and untrue. And then the by- 
ftanders would almoft certainly learn to treat the 
whole affair — the problem, its propounder, and the 
fadiions — with contempt. But we fuppofe that 
at this inftant the propounder of the problem 
enters, and forthwith extinguifhes the feud by the 
produdtion of the cone ! — all contrarieties are at 
once reconciled ; all fufpicions are difpelled ; and 
eager dogmatifts of all creeds are put to the blufh ! 

To defend the propriety of this illuftration in all 
its parts would be idle. It is enough if it throws 
any light upon the affertion, that the Scriptures, 
lecaufe they are true and divine^ and becaufe they 
propound feparated parts, properties, or relations 
of fyftems not known to man, will for ever baffle 
the attempt to reduce their teftimony within the 
completenefs and rotundity of human fcience. If 



44 ESSAYS, ETC. 

it be fo, it muft follow that metaphyfical reafon- 
ing, how exaft foever, is not to be looked to as 
the means of adjufting biblical controverfies. That 
it may feem for a while to do fo is granted ; but 
the fpecious conciliation is either the mere con- 
founding of an antagonift by force of fuperior 
logical ftrength, or it has been effected by con- 
Jiraining adverfe portions of the fcriptural evi- 
dence. 



SECTION IV. 

TN every argumentor inquiry concerning thecon- 
-A. ftitution of the material world, and efpecially 
concerning the ftructure and the functions of the 
living world, vegetative and animal, it is unavoidable 
that the terms and the phrafes therein employed, 
and which are recurring in every paragraph, mould 
be made to embrace fomething which is known, 
commingled with fomething, or much, that is un- 
known. Forthis inconvenience there is no remedy. 
When we fpeak, for inftance, of thofe energies of 
vegetative life in virtue of which the plant fecretes 
its feveral juices or its folids,the fap, the gum, the 
refin, the woody fibre, the feed, the pulp, we note 
certain facts, but we fuppofe very much more. In 
the ufe of language for noting and conveying what 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



we know as to exterior facts, we are aware of the 
rifk we incur at every ftep, which is that of ima- 
gining far more than we know, and of allowing our 
ignorance to cloak itfelf in the ambiguities of fpeech. 

No great mifchief, however, enfues,infuch cafes, 
in the modern mode of difcuffing the fubjects of 
phyfical fcience, fo long as we keep an eye upon 
this fource of error, and take care to difengage ur- 
felves frequently from its confequences. The fault 
of our predeceflbrs in philofophy was this, that they 
did not do fo, but, on the contrary, allowed them- 
felves to believe that, fo long as their Logic was 
rigidly exact, all muft be right. In adherence to 
the better ufages of modern phyfical fcience, we 
learn to diftruft all reafoning concerning the laws 
of the material world, in conducting which it be- 
comes manifeft that the terms we employ are com- 
ing to include a too large proportion of the un- 
known — larger than it isfafe to allowthem to carry, 
In fuch cafes we abandon our Logic, and throw our- 
felves anew upon fads, by the means of enlarged 
obfervation and of reiterated experiments. 

We need not ftay here to adduce inftances in 
illuftration of practices that are familiarly known to 
thofe who are converfant with any department of 
natural philofophy. The application of thefefame 
methods to fubjects belonging to intellectual and 
moral philofophy is not difficult, nor is it fairly 
questionable. Take the cafe now before us, of the 
conditions of moral caufation attaching to the voli- 



46 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



tions of beings like ourfelves, or, in other words, 
the queftion of " Freedom of Will." We might 
gather our fet of terms and phrafes — the verbal 
ftaple of this ancient controverfy — from any page 
of the eflay juft now in view. 

At once it is felt by every reflective reader — and 
it will be granted by every fuch reader who is not 
wedded to fome controverfial doctrine — that thefe 
words, and thefe conftantly-recurrent combinations 
of phrafes, and thefe often-repeated propofitions 
which pafs under the eye unexamined, do, in fact, 
ftand reprefentative of impenetrable myfteries in 
the ftructure of human nature and of animal na- 
ture, in all orders. The page or the paragraph 
offers to the eye — or fay to the reafon — a due cate- 
nation of affirmative or negative fentences ; there 
is the proper antithefis, and then comes the looked- 
for conclufion, and then the alleged abfurdity of any 
contrary fuppofition: — all looks well, fo far as words 
can avail to carry us within the veil of the temple, 
and give the foot a place in the adytum of intellec- 
tual and moral life. But to how fmall an extent is 
this entrance, in fact, obtained by any fuch nuga- 
tory means ? 

There is, indeed, a lower level of animal exift- 
ence — the very lowefl — in relation to which the 
Logic of writers like Jonathan Edwards may be 
admitted to be fufficient, or adequate to the facts ; 
at leaft in following it there is heard no loud pro- 
teft uttered in contradiction of it. But it is far 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 47 



otherwife as we afcend upon the fcale of life, for, at 
every ftep of this afcent the proteft — the contradic- 
tion, becomes a degree more diftin6t ; and by the 
time that we have reached the uppermoft ftage — > 
even the platform of a fully-developed human na- 
ture — the world of high thought and of great ac- 
tions, this contradiction, this proteft, if it do not 
utter its voice as a thunder, yet fo fpeaks within the 
foul of the man as that we accept it as a timely 
monition from God. 

One might well be amazed in finding that fome 
half-dozen or more of phrafes — to few or none of 
which a diftin£t meaning can be attached — when 
worked upon in pedantic ftyle, and handled, this 
way and that way, in appofition and in oppofition, 
and in artificial fequence — are trufted to as means of 
laying open the ftru£ture of human nature ! 
- In following upwards the fcale of mental deve- 
lopment we find, as we go on, firft, faculties or 
powers of wider grafp and greater force, and then^ 
and as the refult of thefe, a far more intricate in- 
teraction of faculties, fo that the ultimate products 
are fuch as immeafurably furpafs, in quality, and in 
quantity, and in complication, any with which we 
had become acquainted among the lower orders of 
the animated world. 

But now the ancient and fcholaftic praCtice of 
treating all queftions of human nature abftra£tedly 
and metaphyfically has induced the belief that vo- 
lition in man is fimple or uniform in its mode of 



48 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



fpringing up in the mind. Yet if the real world 
of fentient and voluntary beings is looked at, it will 
at once be feen, firft, that each fpecies has its pecu- 
liar conditions of volition, and that volition in each 
fpecies refults, at different times, from very diffe- 
rent internal proceffes. It would appear, then, to 
be the natural courfe to look out, firft, for the 
fimpleft inftances of volition, and then to afcend 
from them to fuch as are complex, and therefore 
not fo readily analyzed. This order of inveftiga- 
tion directs us to the inferior clafTes of the animal 
community — it being probable that, in obferving a 
lefs complicated organization, we mail become qua- 
lified to diflecSt that which is more fo. For we may 
fairly prefume that the more complicated orders 
take up into their mental machinery certain ele- 
ments that have been imperfectly developed in the 
lower ranks of exiftence. It is on this preemp- 
tion that we avail ourfelves of the fruits of obfer- 
vation gathered from the movements and habits of 
inferior fpecies. For it is only by a reference to our 
own confcioufnefs that we learn to interpret fuch 
facts ; and this interpretation prefuppofes the ho- 
mogeneity of the primary elements of fentient ex- 
iftence. If a pure intelligence, or a fimply rational 
effence — wholly deftitute of all appetite, emotion, 
imagination — were to defcend into this world of 
hungry, thirfty, paffionate, irafcible, and pleafure- 
loving beings, it would find itfelf utterly at a lofs in 
endeavouring to comprehend movements which 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 49 



it witnefled. That is to fay, having no participa- 
tion of the elements of the animal and moral na- 
ture, it would want the glofTary of mundane life, 
and would poffefs no means of interpretation ; — all 
it faw would be a riddle. 

But this is not the cafe when man looks around 
him upon his fellows of inferior rank ; for pofTef- 
fing, as he does, every element of animal and moral 
life, he difcerns few operations which he does not 
atonceknowhowtotranflate into the language of 
his own nature ; and thus he is qualified to philo- 
fophize as well upon the mental conformation of 
birds and quadrupeds as upon that of his own fpe- 
cies. We fay, he witneffes few operations that are 
unintelligible to him ; but there are movements 
carried on, efpecially by the more minute tribes, 
and thofe that are the moft remote from himfelf, 
which nothing in his own nature enables him to 
underftand ; they are fails that are not interpre- 
table by confcioufnefs, and accordingly we defig- 
nate them by the term injlincl, which has no clear 
fignificance beyond that which attaches to it as 
ftanding for a clafs of fails that are not under- 
ftood. Such fails can afford us no aid in ana- 
lyzing the operations of the human mind, and muft 
therefore be excluded from our courfe of argu- 
ment. 

The inferior orders of confcious beings offer to 
our notice two or three diftinguimable elements of 
volition, together with the rude commencements 
E 



50 



ESS AYS y ETC. 



of another, for the full development of which we 
muft look to the higher nature of man. 

A proper teft for difcovering the elements of the 
mental conformation of any order of beings is af- 
forded, firjl^ by the educational treatment which 
common experience proves to be applicable to it; 
and then^ by the emotions or fentiments which are 
excited in ourfelves by its qualities or difpofitions. 
In this method we employ, as if it were, a che- 
mical agent for bringing to light a concealed ingre- 
dient. The dog is the fubjedt of abundantly more 
education, and he is the objedt of more fentiment 
than the horfe — not arbitrarily or accidentally fo, 
but becaufe he poffefles more intellectual faculty, 
and more fenfibility. His fenfes are eminently 
acute ; his memory is retentive and exacl: his paf- 
five power of acquiring habits is great ; and, to 
complete his mental endowments, he is able, in a 
confiderable degree, to hold in combination more 
than two or three connected ideas, and among them 
to felect the proper inference from the antecedents. 
Thus qualified, he remembers his matter's ufages, 
he apprehends his matter's operations, and he 
a£ls his part in accomplifhing his matter's inten- 
tions. And then, as a moral being, he is fufcep- 
tible of fo pertinacious an attachment to individuals, 
he has fo much fenfe of duty and of honour, and is 
capable of fo intenfe a wretchednefs under the fenfe 
of ill-condu£t and merited difpleafure, that he be- 
comes the proper objedt of correlative fentiments 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



of affection, complacency, or difpleafure in the hu- 
man mind. The dog, in virtue of his individual 
difpofitions, and apart from all fophiftication or ex- 
travagance, is regarded with feelings which it would 
be as unreafonable to reftrain, when fo called forth, 
as it would be to beftow them, in the fame degree, 
upon any other fpecies of domefticated animals. 

Neverthelefs, the dog is limited in his range of 
mental faculty and of fenfibility ; and, in compar- 
ing his powers with thofe of man, we fee the more 
clearly the foundation of that different treatment 
of which the higher nature is the fubjecl, and we 
fee, too, the abfurdity of anyphyiical doctrine which 
affirms the agency of men, of brutes, and of ma- 
chines, to be one and the fame thing. The dog, 
as he is not endowed w T ith that inexplicable faculty 
which prompts the beaver to conftruct for himfelf 
a hut, or the white ant to eredt a cathedral of mud, 
or the rook to weave for her family an aerial taber- 
nacle, is not gifted with any reafoning power for 
attaining a iimilar refult. If deprived of his com- 
fortable kennel he will neftle in a corner, or edge 
himfelf into a rick ; but he never attempts (though 
loofe materials of all forts may be lying about) to 
conftru£r. a houfe. Or, to exhibit the fame limita- 
tion of faculty under another condition : — the dog 
may learn to take a penny to the mop, and to de- 
pofit it on the counter, and, with fignificant gef- 
ture, to demand his roll : but no education would 
teach him to underftand the equity of the relation 



52 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



between two pence and two rolls, and three pence 
and three rolls ; nor, fuppofmgthat he had dropped 
one of the pieces of money on the way, would he 
draw for himfelf the inference that he muft, there- 
fore^ content himfelf with one roll the lefs. And 
yet a child would foon perceive thefe relations, and 
deduce the proper inference ; or at lean: he would 
underftand them as by a flafh of intelligence, when 
explained to him. 

The want, or at leaft the limitation of the power 
of abftraftion, and of the comparifon of complex 
relations, affects, in an effential manner, the moral 
conftitution of thefe inferior fpecies, even of the 
moft intelligent of them ; while, on the other hand, 
the poffeflion of fuch powers confers upon man his 
refponfibility, invefts him with the anxious prero- 
gative of being mafter of his deftinies ; and, in a 
word, transfers him from the prefent to fome fu- 
ture fyftem of retributive treatment. 

The more fenfitive fpecies of animals, fuch as the 
dog and the elephant, enter within the pale of the 
moral fyftem r or ftand at its threfhold — juft as, in 
virtue of their fagacity, they enter within the pale of 
the intellectual fyftem — by their fufceptibility of 
emotions, which places them, to a certain extent, in 
communion with man, and renders them the objects 
of his moral fenfibilities. This parallelifm between 
the intellectual and the moral difference between 
man and the brute holds entire. Animals of the 
higher orders will do anything that comes within 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 



the range of afTociation of ideas, or of the very fim- 
pleft connexion of caufe and effedt ; but not more. 
And in like manner are they open to keen emotions 
of gratitude, ftiame, revenge ; yet we foon touch 
the boundary of their moral capacities. The ele- 
phant has his emotions, and he is retentive of them ; 
but he does not abftra<5t the quality which has fo 
ftrongly affefted him from the act, or the perfon, to 
which it belongs ; he is confcious of that difference 
in temper which diftinguifhes one of his keepers 
from another, and he treats them both accordingly ; 
but he does not form a feparate idea of goodnefs 
and malignity, much lefs does he compare fuch ab- 
ftra£ted ideas with his own correlative emotions \ 
and therefore he attains to no complex notion of 
virtue and of vice. As the confequence of this de- 
ficiency of faculty, the animal does not think of his 
own difpofitions, or mufe concerning his perfonal 
charadter, nor does he inftitute a mental com- 
parifon between his own behaviour or habitual 
temper and any abftra£i: notion of moral qualities. 
Therefore neither the dog nor the elephant con- 
demns or diflikes himfelf, much lefs does he con- 
ceive the idea of a better difpofition, as an obje£t of 
his ambition; and therefore he never attempts the 
work of felf-education by reprelling ill feelings, and 
by favouring the better. 

Accordingly, felf-originated reformation is not 
looked for from the brute. He may indeed be 
amended in his difpofitions by external treatment ; 



54 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



he may alfo become more or lefs tradable in con- 
fequence of changes in his conftitution or his diet; 
but he never undergoes a change in confequence of 
a mental procefs — bringing abftrad qualities into 
comparifon, and allowing one of them to be chofen 
and followed, while others are hated and avoided. 
If it be afked on what ground we infer thefe defi- 
ciencies of internal ftrudture in the brute mind, we 
reply, that the internal defe£t may fairly be implied 
from the abfence of the proper outward refults of 
the fuppofed faculty. In following even the moft 
fagacious animal through his movements, in con- 
nexion with new and artificial occafions, we catch 
him at fault precifely from the want of the power 
of abftradlion : the internal ftru&ure, though re- 
condite, is laid bare in fuch inftances, and we ceafe 
to wonder that a being fo deficient mould not pro- 
vide for his welfare by artificial means. 

And the very fame deficiencv neceffitates the 
permanence of his moral condition; and — knowing 
it — though we feel complacency or difplacency to- 
wards the animal orders according to their difpofi- 
tions, we neither affign to them the praife of virtue 
in the one cafe, nor impute to them the blame of 
vice in the other. The animal that does not ob- 
ferve proportions, that does not ufe inftruments or 
conftruft machines, does not, for the fame reafon, 
attempt to remodel his own chara&er; he does not, 
in any degree, educate himfelf. Virtue, vice, praife, 
blame, law, government, retribution, are conditions 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 55 



proper to the treatment of a being who, by his ufe of 
arbitrary figns, by his employment of complicated 
means, and by his manifold converfions of the 
powers of nature to his particular advantage, makes 
it evident that he poffeffes a faculty which, in con- 
nection with his moral fenfibilities, renders virtue, 
vice, praife, blame, law, government, retribution, 
the true correlatives of his nature. 

The fophifm, therefore, which would fever vir- 
tue, vice, praife, blame, law, government, retribu- 
tion, from human nature, contains an abfurdity of 
precifely the fame degree as that which would attach 
thefe conditions to the brute. It were a folly to 
look for arts and accomplifhments among tigers, 
kites, {harks ; and it is an equal folly not to look for 
them among men : it is an error of the fame mag- 
nitude to deny that the being who builds, plants, 
writes, and calculates, cannot work upon his own 
difpofitions, or, in other words, is not blameworthy, 
as to affirm that tigers, kites, and marks might, if 
they fo pleafed, convert their natures, and become 
more amiable and lefs rapacious than hitherto they 
have mown themfelves to be. 

The conjunction of the higher elements of in- 
tellectual and moral being with the common ingre- 
dients of animal life is beautifully developed in ob- 
ferving the growth and expanfion of the human 
mind from infancy to manhood. Nature, in pre- 
paring to bring upon the theatre of the world fo 
noble an agent as man, fteps back, that (he may 



56 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



take the bolder leap, and reach a higher ftage. 
Man, throughout the period of his infancy, is, as 
an agent, below his fellows in the animal world. 
It cannot be doubted that the perceptions of the 
human infant are more confufed than thofe of the 
young of animals ; and probably they amount to 
nothing more than vague fenfations, conveying no 
knowledge of the external world : its inftincts alfo 
are lefs determinate than thofe of other new-born 
animals ; and the mufcular force is a mere element, 
which remains yet to be developed. The develop- 
ment of this power feems to be effected by the con- 
ftitution of an immediate connection between the 
mufcular excitability and every fenfation that affects 
the fenforium, whether arifingfrom within or from 
without. In thefe movements there is no volition^ 
there is nothing but the mufcular contraction, as 
an immediate fequence of fenfation. Thus are the 
mufcles brought into play, ftrengthened, and taught 
to obey — inftantaneoufly, the mind. 

The diftinction ufually made between voluntary 
and involuntary mufcular action is clearly founded 
upon a real difference. But then, when volition is 
declared to be a mental procefs, confiding of fuccef- 
five parts, a falfe fuppofition is fuggefted, as if move- 
ments that are not involuntary were effects of ra- 
pidly conducted deliberations and determinations. 
That complex procefs which, even in the adult, 
takes place only on occafions when antagoniff mo- 
tives are in conflict— as when prudential or moral 
confiderations are wreftling with defires — is affumed 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 57 



to be the model of all the a£ts of the mind. But 
if we give attention to the preparation which na- 
ture is making in the firft months of life for bring- 
ing the machine into full play, we mall be led to 
think that the main bufinefs of infancy is the for- 
mation of that habit of the animal fyftem which 
places its movements in immediate fequence with 
the fenfations and with the emotions. 

Mobility, elafticity, promptitude, as the condi- 
tions of mufcular action, get the ftart of the deli- 
berative faculties ; and they fo poffefs themfelves, 
by ufage, of the animal and the intellectual being, 
that they hold through life their priority ; fo that, 
whatever power reafon may at length acquire, man 
a£ts ten thoufand times in the fpontaneous manner 
which he learns in infancy, for once that he a£is in 
the manner which metaphyfical writers defcribe 
when they profefs to analyze the procefs of voli- 
tion. It is not until the power of locomotion has 
put the pupil of nature in truft, to a certain extent, 
with his own prefervation, and when, as its confe- 
quence, he is brought hourly into new circum- 
ftances, that the firft developments of reafon may 
be obferved. By this time the fequencesof events 
fix themfelves in the memory, and give birth to the 
expectation of like refults from like antecedents. 
Then follow courfes of condu£t founded upon this 
expedtation, and thenceforward — deliberative voli- 
tions ; and thus it is that the mental machine is fall 
getting its wheels, one after another, into gear. 

It would be curious, and perhaps inftruCtive, to 



58 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



trace from its beginnings that expanfion of the 
mind which imparts to it a deliberative power, and 
which conftitutes man a voluntary agent, in the 
higher and proper fenfe of the term, and which, in 
its matured ftate, carries him to an immeafurable 
diftance beyond the inferior fpecies of fentient 
beings. In the nurfery the hafty demands of appe- 
tite are arretted by maternal vigilance, and motives 
of another kind are placed before the mind, and an- 
tagonift confiderations are urged upon its attention. 
Here, then, begins the procefs of complex volition ; 
and at that moment the being fets foot upon a 
courfe that has no limit, and is tranflated from the 
lower world of animal life into the higher fphere of 
rational and moral exiftence. It is then that he is 
introduced to the community of refponfible agents, 
and takes up his heirmip of an interminable deftiny. 

Such of the defires as are fenfual or felfim are 
conftantly being brought into oppofition, rendering 
the gratification of the one incompatible with that 
of the other : the two kinds ftand in conflict for a 
moment, or more ; and whether the final decifion 
be better or worfe, the mind is, by the mere conteft, 
exercifing its faculty of complex thought, and not 
improbably admits, during the moments of hefita- 
tion, other confiderations of a prudential or moral 
kind, which, even if they do not prevail, yet enlarge 
the power ofmentalcomprehenfion and comparifon. 

Where education does its work efficiently, the 
mind learns to obey the law of real or rational connec- 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY, 



tion^'m the place of that of fimple fuggeftion, and it 
brings forward, like a faithful and intelligent minis- 
ter, thofe confiderations which properly belong to 
the occafion. This expanfion of the mind makes 
itfelf apparent, in fome cafes, by the development 
of the inventive faculty ; and the young mechani- 
cian, foon after the time when he has taken his 
place among refponfible agents, is feen, in the ex- 
ercife of the very fame faculties of abftraftion and 
of complex thought, to form conceptions of an end 
or defign, and to felecT: the fitteft means for its at- 
tainment. 

We mould here notice that change in the fenti- 
ments of thofe around him which infenfibly accom- 
panies the early development of the mind. Even 
before this has taken place, the infant has made 
himfelf the object of complacency or of difplacency, 
according to his original difpofitions, or his indi- 
vidual character; and, before he is blamed or ap- 
plauded^ is loved, more or lefs, not only with a love 
of general benevolence, and not only with the in- 
ftin&ive parental fondnefs, but with a fpecific feel- 
ing of moral eftimation. 

This happens before the era of the unqueftion- 
able development of the power of felf-government, 
and before the child is properly deemed praife- 
worthy or blameable, or is accounted to be ame- 
nable to law. But after this important change has 
taken place, a correfponding change is infenfibly 
effe&ed in the conduit and fentiments of others. 



6o 



ESSATS, ETC. 



In the firft place, particular actions are approved 
or blamed, on the principle that now^ by the ex- 
panfion of the faculties, it has become the law of 
his mental operations, that, in the moment of 
aflion, the feveral antagonift motives that mould 
influence action, are, with more or lefs diftinct- 
nefs, prefent to the mind. The agent, therefore, 
is deemed to have made his choice, for the better 
or the worfe, from among alternatives ; and it were 
to degrade him from the rank to which he has 
attained to fuppofe that, like the inferior orders of 
the animal world, he did but obey a ftngle impulfe. 

This is not all ; for the agent is fuppofed to 
have made his choice, for the better or the worfe, 
in this particular inftance, according to his indivi- 
dual difpofitions ; and the action is approved or 
blamed, not only as an infulated fa£t, but as an 
indication of character. And then this character 
is the object, not only of complacency or of dif- 
placency, but of approval or of blame. The cha- 
ra£ter is approved or blamed on the very fame 
principle — differently applied, and further extended 
— which is the ground of the approval or blame of 
particular actions, namely, that the now-expanded 
faculty of the agent enables him, at once, to form 
abftradt notions of moral qualities — to compare 
fuch notions with the fentiments they excite in his 
own mind, and in the minds of others — to inftitute 
comparifons between his own difpofitions and the 
difpofitions which he admires or condemns in 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 61 



others ; and, finally, to make his perfonal difpo- 
fitions the fubject of a procefs of felf-education. 

That fo much as this is prefumed to be true by- 
mankind generally, is mown by the threefold 
treatment that is adopted with the view of amend- 
ing the conduct and difpofitions, as well of adults 
as of children. Fir/I, rewards and punifhments 
are employed for infuring right determinations in 
particular inftances of conduct. Secondly, it is 
ufual to attempt to amend the difpofitions and the 
character by an external management of the ex- 
citing caufes of the various emotions, and paflions, 
and appetites. Thefe two methods are applicable, 
in an inferior degree, even to animals — to the 
horfe, the dog, the elephant. But that which we 
name as the third method of treatment is exclu- 
fively proper to human nature ; and its applicability 
refts upon the fact, that the human mind includes 
an element which is not granted to the brute. 
This is the endeavour to awaken in the mind the 
defire of reforming itfelf — that is, its habits and its 
fettled difpofitions. This differs from the fecond 
method — or the management of difpofitions by 
external means ; and it proceeds upon the known 
fact, that an introverted effort of the mind may, 
and does often, and under a great variety of cir- 
cumftances, take place. 

It is, we fay, the ufage of the human mind to 
make its own acts and difpofitions the fubject of its 
meditations, and thefe meditations enkindle emo- 



62 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



tions of the fame kind with thofe that are excited by 
the view of fimilar a£ts and difpofitions in other 
men ; — and to thefe emotions is fuperadded a fpe- 
cific feeling, more intenfe than the firft, and which 
borrows its force from felf-love — becoming either 
complacent or difplacent : in the latter cafe bring- 
ing with it emotions of fhame, fear, and remorfe. 
It is, moreover, proper to the human mind to 
conceive abftra£tedly of a mode of a£tion, or of a 
ftyle of character better than its own; and to 
a flume that conception as a permanent objedt of 
defire. In confequence of fuch a defire, a ten- 
dency towards it, more or lefs ftrong and uniform, 
takes place. In this manner, amendments, refor- 
mations, and even complete revolutions of cha- 
racter, are every day occurring within the human 
fyftem. It fhould here be ftated that thofe dete- 
riorations of chara&er which are alfo continually 
going on within the fame fyftem do not come 
about by a correfponding procefs of the mind, or 
as the refult of a conception of vicious qualities, 
and a confequent purfuit of them ; for they arife 
from the unrefifted progrefs of fenfual or malignant 
paffions, which, by indulgence, become at length 
paramount forces. 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 63 



SECTION V. 

WH ETH E R this faculty of reformation , which 
divides man from his fellow-fentient beings 
by an immenfe interval, mult be regarded as infer u- 
table, or whether it admits of being feparated into its 
components, is a queftion we may leave to be con- 
fidered by pfychologifts : nor need it be determined 
in its relation to morals or religion, fince the fa£t 
of its exiftence is admitted ; and this facl: is enough 
for any practical purpofe. The intelligible prin- 
ciples of morals and Chriftian piety have no more 
connexion with a fcientific analyfis than have the 
labours of the mechanician with a theory — could it 
be given, of gravitation, 

But this power of introverted action, which, by 
emphafis, may be termed the excellence of human 
nature, is often abfolutely dormant, juft as the 
faculty of abftraftion alfo lies dormant among bar- 
barous tribes. Moreover, it is expofed to much 
damage, and may at length be quite enfeebled, by 
a vicious courfe of life. Man may either lie inert, 
beneath the level of his proper deftiny, or, which 
is a more melancholy cafe, he may fall below that 
level — he may revert to the moral imbecility of 
infancy ; and he may fink further into an abyfs, 
where he grovels hopeleffly, and muft be content 



64 ESS ATS, ETC. 

to {hare fentiments of loathing with the hog or 
the hyena. Sad condition this of necejjity ! — - 
miferable ruin and decay of the nobleft ftructure ! 

It fhould always be remembered, that, if the 
aftual condition of human nature be contemplated 
merely as a matter of phyfical fcience, it muft be 
admitted to have fuftained, from whatever caufe, 
a univerfal damage or fhock \ inafmuch as its 
higher faculties do not, like the faculties of the 
inferior claffes, work aufpicioufly, or in accord- 
ance with their intention ; often — and in a vaft 
proportion of inftances — are they overborne, de- 
feated, deftroyed > while in no Inftances do they 
take that full, free, and perfect courfe which is 
abftractedly proper to them. We may, if we 
pleafe, collate this phyfical fact with certain prin- 
ciples of theology, and may derive from the com- 
parifon a confirmation of our religious belief. But 
this is not a matter that is pertinent to our imme- 
diate purpofe. 

Every new power that is admitted into a com- 
plex machinery tends, of courfe, to multiply the 
variations of its movements, and fo to render a 
calculation of thofe- movements more voluminous 
or difficult ; yet not to render them at all lefs 
caufal, or in any fenfe fortuitous. But this general 
principle is open to fome apparent exceptions ; as 
thus — if the fuperadded power be of a commanding 
fort, it will fimplify the movements rather than 
complicate them, and fo bring them more within 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGT. 65 



the range of calculation : inftances may eafily be 
adduced in which the agencies of higher and more 
complex natures are more fimple and invariable 
than thofe of inferior beings. The mental ma- 
chinery of the adult contains more movements, 
and is more complex, than that of the infant ; for 
new faculties have come into play, the materials of 
intellectual aCtion have been vaftly augmented, 
and many fufceptibilities have been quickened, 
which are non-exiftent in the infant. But while 
the aCtions of the infant from one moment to the 
next may defy calculation, the actions of the adult, 
though open to a hundred times more influences, 
are often Amplified by the predominance of fome 
one of them. Thus, a ruling paflion, long in- 
dulged, fets through the foul like an impetuous 
current, and gives a high degree of uniformity to 
the conduct. Or a fimilar uniformity and Ampli- 
fication may refult from the predominance of 
virtuous emotions. Or, again, that very expan- 
fion of the intellectual faculties which imparts the 
greateft organic complexity to the machine may, 
at the fame time, when it reaches its perfection, 
reftore to the operations of the mind the moft 
abfolute fimplicity. Truth is one ; and it is the 
glory and perfection of the intellectual nature to 
perceive that onenefs ; and in proportion as truth 
is fo perceived, and is embraced, and is delighted 
in, the agency of the being will become fo much 
the more fimple, and calculable^ and will lofe its 
F 



66 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



character of variablenefs. The fame is true of the 
perfection of the moral faculties ; and it may be 
affirmed, that perfection in all orders, and of all 
kinds, tends, with equal fteps, towards fimplicity, 
uniformity, and conftancy. 

And yet what, it may be afked, can be gained by 
applying to this fimplicity, or to this conftancy, 
which is the v ery character of perfection, any term 
or defcriptive phrafe which, with equal or greater 
propriety, may be affumed to belong to the loweft 
orders of the animal world ? There is a fenfe in 
which it might be fo applied ; but it muft be an 
infelicitous and ill-omened perverfion fo to do. 
We gain, it is true, the conception of an awful 
goddefs — ftern in feature, inflexible in temper, and 
implacably defpotic, who rules the univerfe, and 
who vouchfafes no other reply to fupplicants, than 
the monotonous refponfe — Whatever is, muft be. 
Nothing is more infallible than the connection be- 
tween perfect intelligence, and 'the perception of 
a truth prefented to it. Who could wifh to be 
privileged with a freedom from this fort of necef- 
fity ? To whom can this kind of defpotifm be 
galling, or intolerable ? Nor can any but the loft 
covet that other fpecies of liberty which excufes 
us from the moral neceflity of taking always the 
road of virtue. To be bound by this necejjity is 
the true liberty ; and, in fact, at every ftep of our 
approach to the high ground of intellectual and 
moral perfection, do liberty and neceflity merge 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 67 



and become identical ; and he is the moil free 
whofe reafon and whofe volitions are the moft in- 
variable and uniform. 

But this is the point at which it becomes urgently 
needful to make a proteft againft the inveterate prac- 
tice of applying one and the fame fetof phrafes to the 
moft extreme inftances — inftances fo extreme that 
the interval between them is immeafurably great. 
This fource of confufion has had its rife in that 
controverfial ufage which has carried a fubjecl be- 
longing of right to the philofophy of human nature 
over to the fide of abftraCl theology and of biblical 
interpretation. In this way it has come about 
that phrafes fuch as thofe which are repeated on 
every page of Edwards' Eflay — "the determination 
of the will," — " the ftrongeft motive fwaying the 
will,"— "the choice which on the whole approves 
itfelf to the reafon 5 " and fome others, are left to 
lodge themfelves in the reader's mind, who believes 
himfelf to be logically fafe when he applies them — 
now, to the thoufand-to-one inftances of a&ions 
that are fpontaneous, inftantaneous, inftin&ive ; 
and now, to actions of the very higheft quality, 
wherein faculties of reafon and of feeling are com- 
bined in the production of a refult which is a fit 
fample at once of liberty the loftieft, with determi- 
nations, or with infallibility the moft abfolute. 

Of fuch long ftanding are thofe confufions 
which have fprung from the interference of Logic 
with morals and Theology, on this ground, that 



68 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



the only way of efcape feems to be that of palling 
over entirely from the region where religious feel- 
ings and feftarian beliefs bear fway, to a region 
which is wholly exempt from any fuch influences ; 
we mean — the fphere of purely intellectual a£tion. 

It is in this fphere that the human mind exer- 
cifes and exhibits its powers with the moft advan- 
tage, and it is here that it difplays what are its 
proper forces. It is here that it gives evidence of 
its pofleffing a faculty of caufation, enabling it to 
mark out for itfelf a path of difcovery over the 
field of the material world. It is not that, on this 
field, the human mind is exempt from the influ- 
ence of motives, or that it is in an impaflive condi- 
tion ; for the impulfes which here bear upon it are 
of the moft vivid kind ; yet they are fuch as take a 
broad bearing, imparting force at large to the intel- 
lectual energies, while they leave individual voli- 
tions to take their rife with abfolute freedom. 

It is admitted, or it ought to be admitted, on all 
fides, that the ultimate or innermoji faff in the 
mental ftrudture is wholly infcrutable ; or that it 
ftands on a level with thofe ultimate fa£ts in phy- 
fical philofophy which are held to lie hid beyond 
the reach of fcience : — thefe are the myfteries of the 
material world ; and as to the world of mind, we 
affume nothing more than this, that it alfo has its 
myfteries — fa£ts which, though they are not to be 
queftioned, are not to be fpread out to view as if 
more were known concerning them than is or can 
be known. 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 69 



If fo much as this be allowed, then our queftion 
is this, Whether, on the field of its intellectual acti- 
vity, the human mind does not exercife its func- 
tions in a manner which demands an abfolute dis- 
tinction to be made between it, and any fpecies of 
phyfical caufation, 

All things occurring in the material world — all 
events that are properly phyfical — may be traced 
up, in the order of time, to events, or to a ftate of 
things that is anterior to the moment of their oc- 
currence. But is it true that in the fame fenfe, or 
in any fenfe which is intelligible, all events in the 
world of mind are alfo to be traced upward, in the 
order of time, to events, or to a ftate of things that 
is anterior to themfelves ? We here aiTume the 
negative, and affirm, on the contrary, the ftriCtly 
initiative aCtivity of mind, and affirm this to be the 
diftinCtive prerogative of the human mind. 

Thofe things that are anterior or antecedent to 
the ftate of the mind at any moment, or to any of 
its volitions, are fuch as thefe : there is the individual 
make, or, as we fay, the idiofyncracy of the man — 
that which from birth, and under the lengthened 
influences of education, and all circumftances put 
together, have brought him to be juft what now he 
is, in faculty, habit, and power ; — then we are to 
take into the account the now-prefent circle of in- 
fluences that attra£t the fenfes, or that in anyway 
bear upon, incite, ftimulate, or deprefs the mind, 
either enhancing its powers, or producing an abate- 



7 o 



ESSATS, ETC. 



ment of their energy. In a word, we have before 
us — the individual man, and the circumftance ; and 
both, in refpect of the next enfuing volition, are 
antecedent to it ; that volition being taken to be, or 
it is fpoken of as, the effect of thefe two antecedent 
caufes, or clufters of caufes. It may be, moreover, 
that when this volition is confidered as an effect or 
refult of the two, we fail to trace what is due to 
each, up from the product to its caufe. 

But now let it be granted as poffible, or as a cafe 
that is at leaft hypothetically admiffible, that in the 
product there is found to be more — perhaps im- 
menfely more, than we can, with any reafon, attri- 
bute to either of the above-named antecedents. 
In the product there is^ what was not in the caufes, 
either feparately confidered, or confidered in mafs, 
or as the fum of the two. Inftances of this very 
kind abound, and fuperabound in all departments 
of the phyfical fciences. The product is not only 
more than the fum, or than the multiple of the two 
above-named clufters of antecedents, but it is of a 
kind for which we muft make fearch elfewhere 
than among thofe influences in refpect of which 
the man is the creature of the conditions of his 
birth, education, and prefent circumftance. 

We now take an inftance. — That vaft affem- 
blage of conceptions and of beliefs which are em- 
braced in the circle of the Modern Aftronomy is 
an intellectual product — it is a refult which has 
come out of the modern mind, and which, at this 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 71 



time holds a place in all inftrudted minds into which 
it has entered by the ordinary methods of teaching. 
This modern aftronomy may be, and it is, fet forth 
and figured in books ; and it is fymbolized in thofe 
elaborate mechanifms and inftruments to which 
itfelf has given birth, and which are its tools and its 
aids. But now this fcheme of the ftellar and pla- 
netary univerfe which we affent to as, in the main, 
true, and which we fpeak of without hefitation as 
conformable to the reality of things — this complex 
notion of magnitudes, diftances, revolutions, per- 
turbations — this great idea of fpheres, and of 
orbits, and of velocities, whence has it come, and 
bow has it come, to fill the place which it actually 
occupies in the modern mind ? 

In anfwering this queftion we muft not fay, or 
imagine, that the modern theory of the univerfe has 
fuggefted itfelf to the human mind fpontaneoufly, 
as if it were the obvious interpretation of what the 
^eye is converfant with in furveying the midnight 
heavens. It is not the viftble meaning of the things 
that are feen ; for a fuppofition the very contrary 
of what is now known to be true in aftronomy is 
that which the human mind has always fpontane- 
oufly accepted. The diurnal movement of the ce- 
leftial lamps from eaft to weft has, in every age, 
been trufted and received as real, until Thought 
has laborioufly revifed, and has rejected thefe pri- 
mitive fuppofitions. 

Nor has the modern aftronomy fprung out of that 



72 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



current of images which is ever flowing through 
the mind, and in refpefr. of which it, for the moft 
part, exercifes no control. The human mind has 
not dreamed the aftronomy which we now accept 
as true ; it has not picked it up, as if it had floated 
down upon the meditative ftream of unfought-for 
images. 

But now has the modern theory of the univerfe, 
at length turned up in the evolution of an eternal fe- 
ries of chances ? It is affirmed that the twenty-four 
or thirty letters of the alphabet, if thrown inceflantly 
during millions of years, might come up in order, 
as a line of the Iliad ; and that the chances of 
fome other millions of ages would give us Homer 
entire ! If then the univerfe itfelf may be the pro- 
duct of eternal chances, then why may not our 
modern notion of it have fprung alfo from the 
womb of eternity in the fame manner ? Who 
among us fhall fay he believes this ? 

We are now affuming that the modern aftro- 
nomy if, fubftantially, true. Let it be imagined, 
then, that it has, at length, been fpontaneoufly 
generated by the evolution of certain Laws of 
Thought, which, as innate in the human mind, 
are the fixed and conftant conftituents of the 
rational nature. Be it fo ; but thefe innate laws 
— the tendency of which is to bring the human 
mind into conformity with the nature of things in 
the world around us — thefe laws are themfelves 
fubjedt, as the hiftory of philofophy {hows, to 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 73 



countlefs and incalculable difturbing influences ; 
and if, as now, we are thinking of the evolution 
of fixed laws, and of nothing elfe y and if they are 
croffed and deflected by innumerable influences 
coming in upon them from all fides, then, and on 
that fuppofition, the probability of the coming up 
of a true astronomy, in the courfe of myriads of 
ages, is very little, if at all, better than it is on the 
preceding fuppofition of its fpringing out of pure 
chance. 

But there is no need, it will be faid, to have 
recourfe to any of thefe extreme fuppofitions, and 
which nobody would profefs to think admiflible. 
That great fcheme of the univerfe which we de- 
fignate "the modern aftronomy," has become what 
it is as the refult of methods of reafoning — com- 
plicated, refined, hypothetic often, as to its ftart- 
ing-point, and neverthelefs irrefiftibly conclufive. 
It is the noble achievement of the human mind, 
labouring on the fame field — the vifible heavens — 
age after age ; often wandering far from the right 
path, but at length arriving at a harmonious fyftem 
which we may now fafely accept as being conform- 
able to the reality of things. 

What this reafoning is — regarded as an intel- 
lectual operation — this is not the place to inquire : 
a ftridl analyfis of it has been propounded by fe- 
veral recent writers. It is enough here to fay that 
it implies, at each Hep, the following, or the accept- 
ing as true, a perceived agreement, or an accord- 



74 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



ance, whether in relation to quantities or qualities, 
or fome fuppofed relationship of known caufes and 
effeas. 

But now, if the aggregate of all human reafon- 
ings could be brought under review, it would 
appear that in a very large — perhaps the larger — 
number of inftances the agreement, or the accord- 
ance, which the mind at firft accepted as true, 
was not fo in fa£t — the appearances were falla- 
cious. This probability of error is known to, and it 
is always kept in view by well-trained minds. Con- 
fequent upon this knowledge of the fallacioufnefs 
of phenomena, and the uncertainty of even the beft 
methods of hypothetic reafoning, and the neceffity 
of fubmitting all conclufions to fome teft, or to 
many tefts — if they can be brought forward — a ha- 
bit is formed of fupervifion, and the practice is 
reforted to of excurfive and conje&ural advances, 
in this direftion and in that — hunting, as we may 
fay, for indications of error : hypothefes the leaft 
likely to be true are invited, and are imagined, 
and are queftioned, fo as that we may embrace 
every chance of dete£Hng any miftaken ftep. 

In explication of this revifional procefs in philo- 
fophic reafoning — this highly-complicated method, 
which revolves all things known, and all things 
imaginable — we may, if we pleafe, affirm that fome 
higher u law of thought" comes in to a£t as the 
guide of fuch fpeculations. And yet this fecond> or 
this more recondite law, will itfelf need another, 



LOGIC IN THEOLOGY. 75 



which mall be ftill more intimate, and more recon- 
dite, and which mall give aid in the revifion of its 
own operations. In a word, at every ftep of our 
advance on this path we mall find the need of ano- 
ther power, or of a principle, deeper and further in, 
and therefore lefs explicable, than the preceding 
one. What it is which we need is that which we 
may as well acknowledge — at the very outfet : it 
is what we would not call " the felf-determining 
power of the mind," becaufe this worn-out phrafe 
has furrounded itfelf with confufions ; but it is that 
which, in whatever terms it may be fpoken of, is 
the prerogative and the diftinction of Mind, in the 
human fpecies. It is that which, becaufe it is the 
ultimate fact in human nature, is not fufceptible of 
analyfis, and muft for ever defy our endeavours to 
fet it forth in explicative propofitions. 

Apart from a candid and a modeft recognition 
of this ultimate fact in human nature, we find 
ourfelves contending, ever and anew, and to little 
purpofe, with fome guife of atheiftic or materialiftic 
fatalifm. The entire confcioufnefs of the intel- 
lectual and moral nature, in every found mind, re- 
pels and refents thefe monftrous doctrines ; never- 
thelefs, fo long as we admit, in conftructing our 
fyftems of abftracl Theology, thofe principles of 
reafoning on which atheifm takes its ftand, we mail 
find no releafe from this warfare. 

It may be demanded that we mould adduce fome 
flagrant inftances of this pernicious interference 



76 



ESSJrS, ETC. 



of a wordy Logic with the principles of Chriftian 
Theology. — The name of Jonathan Edwards has 
been prominent in thefe pages : — but now will the 
modern Chriftian reader of his works wifh to repeat 
the demand for inftances of this kind to be thence 
drawn ? In thofe works — up and down, paflages 
occur at fight of which one ftands aghaft the 
horror of a great darknefs comes upon the foul, 
and it is not until long after reading them, and 
clofing the book, that any degree of peace of mind 
is regained. This unfeignedly Chriftian man, 
from the peculiar ftru&ure of his mind, and from 
his training, had learned to abandon himfelf to the 
tyranny of a wordy, demonftrative method. Come 
what might — let all principles and all intuitions of 
piety and moral feeling be outraged, yet if the 
Logic be right — if each propofition hangs faft by 
the heels of the propofition which is its precurfor, 
— if all be fo, then a belief which is infinitely worfe 
than the worft blafphemies of atheifts is, without a 
doubt, to be taken to ourfelves as true ! 

But has not every refidue of this puritanic The- 
ology long ago ceafed to be thought of? The 
day will be bright when any fuch affirmation may 
be uttered with truth ; for then we fliall have 
learned to think of the Divine Nature — according 
to Scripture ; and Chriftian Theology fhall at 
length fpeak peace to our troubled thoughts. 



ESSAY II. 



The ft ate of Unitarianifm in England. 

SECTION I. 

HE fairnefs of an indirect argument 
may always be queftioned. What we 
mean by an indirect argument is — the 
drawing an inference for or againft 
any fyftem of belief, or any polity or fcheme of 
focial organization, in a fomewhat circuitous man- 
ner, from its manifeft or its alleged confequences — 
its progrefs, its defeats, its fortunes^ among other 
and competing doctrines or practices. 

In fome cafes this mode of oblique reafoning 
may carry with it a conclufive and irrefiftible force, 
and may make good its claim as legitimate, in a 
logical fenfe, by the incontrovertible validity of the 
inference in which it terminates. 

An indirect or inferential argument in favour of 
any doctrine or fyftem, derived from its rapid fpread, 




78 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



and its a£tual hold of the popular mind, is always 
very precarious, and mould be had recourfe to only 
as accompanied with a careful and a thoroughly 
honeft confideration of all the circumftances of the 
cafe. 

An indirect argument, adverfe to the pretenfions 
of a particular fyftem or polity, in like manner de- 
mands caution, and freedom from polemical eager- 
nefs, on the part of thofe who urge it ; neverthe- 
lefs circumftances may attach to a particular in- 
ftance which remove all reafonable hefitation, when 
we are intending to bring it home to thofe to whom 
it may relate, as to the unfoundnefs of their dif- 
tinftive principles. 

Might we, without offence, take, in illu ft ration 
of what we are now faying, an inftance in refer- 
ring to which we profefs — what indeed we feel — 
refpe£t and affedtion for a highly eftimable body 
of perfons — the Quakers ? Let all the merits of 
the u Friends" be fully granted, and let the large 
amount of their benevolent achievements be put 
down to their credit, and then we mail be trou- 
bled with no mifgivings in affirming that Quaker- 
ifm — fuch as it has exifted in England thefe hun- 
dred years paft, is a total miftake — it is not the 
Chriftianity of the New Teftament. To mow 
why we think fo would lead us away from our 
immediate purpofe ; nor can an argument of this 
kind be urgently called for at a time when the rapid 
decreafe of the body — its haftening fublimation — 



UN IT J R I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 79 

feems to indicate a time near at hand when its laft 
aged reprefentatives {hall have been lowered into 
their graves with obfequies fignificantly noifelefs. 

In demur of an unfavourable indirect argument 
of this fort, fuch pleas as the following may be 
urged : — We may fay, it is an evil world that we 
live in ; the very pureft forms of truth are always 
the moft vehemently rejected ; it is, moreover, an 
evil time — a time in which blind prejudice, pow- 
erful corporations, fecular influences, famion, fa- 
naticifm, are juft now in their hour of energy, and 
are too ftrong for us ; we do not — we cannot prof- 
per in the face of forces fo many and fo potent. 
Indulgence mould be given to thefe, and to any 
other explanations which may be confolatory to 
the feelings of the chiefs of unprofperous bodies. 
But after duly liftening to them, we come round 
to our firft affumption, that, in certain inftances> 
the damaging inference which we intend to draw 
is valid, and is irrefiftibly conclufive. 

On the part of thofe who, after a long trial, have 
confpicuoufly failed to bring over to their views any 
large proportion of the religious community, this 
plea meets the ear oftener perhaps than any other : 
cc That the times are unfavourable to liberty of 
thought ; that a blind acquiefcence in old errors, 
a reverence for antiquated fuperftitions, is the 
predominant feeling with the religious." This 
plea, we think, is unavailing at this time ; and it 
mould long ago have ceafed to be ufed. It is a. 



8o 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



plea inapplicable to the inftance of the prefent 
ftate of Unitarianifm in England. It may be al- 
leged that in no inftance can an inference drawn 
from what we have called the fortunes of a religious 
community be accepted as of conclufive weight. 
We grant this \ and neverthelefs return to our 
pofition that, in certain cafes , aprefurnption, adverfe 
to the merits of a do&rine or polity, may be fo 
ftrong as to carry with it an overwhelming force. 
And we think this to be the cafe in the inftance 
now before us. 

In taking a glance, as we propofe to do, at the 
ftate of Unitarianifm in England, we firft ftep back 
a twenty years — dated from the prefent time ; and 
then, in a future effay, propofe to bring our report, 
and its inference, up to this prefent time, taking 
account of the changes which may have had place 
in that interval of years. 

The lapfe of time, even of fo ftiort a fpace as 
twenty years, ought not to be left out of the reck- 
oning when we have in view the adlual, and the 
relative pofition of a community or a party, poli- 
tical or religious. Twenty years — or thirty — car- 
ries us over from the era of the fathers, in their 
maturity of thought and a£tion, to the era of the 
fons — juft at the moment when they are reviewing 
the opinions of their predeceflbrs, and are fore- 
cafting their own courfe in moving on to an ad- 
vanced pofition. The exterior afpe£t of things 
may be much the fame — or the fame, if looked at 



UNITAR I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 81 



haftily ; but as to the core of thought, as to the 
inner meaning of conventional phrafes, an exten- 
five fubftitution of one body of notions for another 
may have taken place. 

If then we afk leave to take account of twenty 
or thirty years as materially affecting the real con- 
dition of religious communities, with how much 
more reafon mould we take account of the lapfe 
of centuries ! But juft on this ground we have a 
caufe of complaint. We have liftened to mournful 
denunciations of the " intolerance," the " blind- 
nefs," the " ftolid fanaticifm " of this now-paffing 
time, which feemed to carry us back a four hun- 
dred years. There muji be an anachronifm in any 
fuch wailings as thefe. It is not true that in Eng- 
land, at this time, a fair argument in behalf of great 
principles has to encounter as much antagonifm 
as it would have encountered in the times of the 
Tudors. 

Let us imagine ourfelves to be living in the midft 
of the " dark ages," when the few enlightened 
men of that dreary time might bemoan themfelves 
as having been born a thoufand years too late, or 
a thoufand years too foon. Let us liften at the 
clofet-door of one of them, and hear him uttering 
a wail fuch as this : — " Why toil thus to explore 
the fecrets of nature — the work of God, only to 
earn the difgrace of holding friendfhip with the 
devil ? Who and what are thy contemporaries ? 
they are either the victims of its fottim ignorance, 

G 



82 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



or at once its vidtims and its interefted patrons ! 
Where, unlefs it were in the midft of a wildernefs, 
may reafon fafely utter her voice ? Mankind is 
leagued againft light, and counts every fon of know- 
ledge a deadly foe. Demonftration is condemned 
as the fouleft of herefies ! The laws of nature are 
blafphemy ! and to fet forth the wifdom of the Cre- 
ator, is to preach the do&rine of fiends ! And 
the people hug the tyranny that holds them down : 
they love their thraldom, and are prompt to rend, 
limb from limb, the man who would difabufe their 
underftandings ! Lucklefs man that I am ! born 
too foon or too late : either hide thyfelf in the grave, 
or haften to join the multitude in paying homage 
to the fovereign folly that fits on high, miftrefs of 
the nations !" 

But from a dream fuch as this we awake. It is 
Sunday morning, and, in compliance with whole- 
fome ufages, we diredt our fteps towards a place 
of worfhip, and enter the firft that prefents itfelf. 
The fombre exterior of the ftrufture feems to ally 
itfelf to the glooms of the times from which we had 
juft emerged ; nor was the interior out of harmony 
with the face of the edifice. Deep galleries pro- 
trude their bulk far upon the central fpace. The 
lower area is penfolded by pews, fecretive in their 
intention, and fuch as feemed to typify that fec- 
tarifm of the Chriftian community which has fo 
long made the Church univerfal look fo much more 
like a penitentiary than a royal banqueting-houfe. 



UN IT A R I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 83 



The congregation has afTembled, but the fer- 
vice has not commenced. Dimnefs and comfort- 
lefs folemnity reign within the facred precin£ts ; 
and we might eafily imagine that we had not in- 
deed effected our return from the twelfth century. — 
The congregation has afTembled. So we mull: fay, 
while we look from fide to fide of the defolation, 
and defcry here, and there again, a well-toiletted 
head, or tuft of feathers ! Such is this " holy con- 
vocation !" Yet we fhould not omit to mention 
a half-dozen aged penfioners, and a fcore or two 
of liveried children, who claimed the ample fpaces 
of the galleries as their undifputed domain. 

The minifter afcends to his place ; — a fpare, 
keen-eyed man, fedate in deportment, and farcaftic 
in look, and yet manifeftly fad at heart ; — fad as a 
man of fenfe and feeling muft be, whofe lot it is to 
ftand, year after year, in front of the perpetual fleet 
and froft of ill-fuccefs. He gazes for a moment upon 
the unvaried fcene — for each of his wealthy patrons 
is in his place — and he looks as if in difguft of 
himfelf, of his vocation, of his congregation, of his 
times, and of all the world, and then announces 
the pfalm. The prompter of pfalmody, aided by 
a voice or two from the furtheft corners of the 
place, performs the joyous anthem ! Again the 
leader of worfhip rifes, and reads, and prays ; while 
his hearers, like fo many columns eredi: amid the 
ruins of Palmyra, indicate by their pofition that 
they are not altogether unmindful of the fpecific 



8 4 



ESSAYS, ETC 



fervice in which their minifter is engaged. How 
might any one figh for the unaffected fervour of a 
Turkifh mofque ! 

The preacher takes his text, which, as it was 
not referred to in the body of the difcourfe, has 
flipped from our recollection. The querulous, far- 
donic, difcouraging harangue of half an hour, in- 
fpires the belief that the minifter is preparing his 
hearers for the announcement that the chapel doors 
would, from that day forward be clofed, and that 
no more fruitlefs attempts would be made to diffi- 
pate the obftinate darknefs of the age. Not fo : 
but, inftead of any fuch feemingly difcreet refolu- 
tion, the fanguine man, hoping againft hope, con- 
cludes his difcourfe by declaring his conviction that 
fome thoufand years — perhaps fifteen hundred 
years hence — mankind, efcaping at length from the 
infatuations of enthufiafm and fanaticifm, will yield 
to the fway of right reafon, and acknowledge the 
excellence of cc primitive Chriftianity that is to 
fay, on this provifo, that Chriftianity itfelf, which, 
perhaps, ought always to have been regarded as 
only a temporary difpenfation, mould, at that re- 
mote date, be deemed the fitteft expreffion, or in 
any way a neceffary conveyance of Eternal Truths ! 

But before the preacher has attained this heart- 
warming climax, he complains heavily, and with 
a fwell of indignant eloquence — (lightly indicative, 
perhaps, of wounded pride — of the inveteracy of 
vulgar prejudices — the obdurate impenetrability of 



UNITAR I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 85 



notions once held to be facred — the crufhing def- 
potifm of religious eftablimments, which, as he 
affirms, leave no chance of fuccefs to truth and rea- 
fon among the great body of the people; while the 
fe£ts that difclaim all fuch corrupting influences are 
maddened by fanaticifm. Things being in this 
woeful plight, what wonder is it that the few places 
in which the pure light of " primitive Chriftianity " 
frill mines are fcarcely at all frequented ? "Such," 
faid the preacher, willing to condole with his fad- 
dened flock, " fuch is the infelicity of being thrown 
upon a dark age ! an age, the glooms of which are 
rendered only the more fenfibly denfe by the flick- 
ering (and I fear expiring) taper of true knowledge, 
which we, my brethren, frill hold out to our times. 
But let us remember that we are not alone upon 
the roll of thofe worthies whofe lot it has been to 
contend vainly againft obftinate and triumphant 
ignorance. We are placed, in our times, juft as 
Roger Bacon was placed in his. Or, if you want 
illuftrious examples of this fort, think of the great 
Albert — think of Copernicus — think of Galileo ! 
Heroic men ! they, as we, maintained in that, their 
dark day, fublime truths, which the world, befotted 
then as now, would not receive, though demon- 
ftrably certain." 

Nor does the preacher, whatever bright hopes 
he may entertain of a millennium of truth at the 
end of another millennium of error, promife to his 
hearers any fpeedy change for the better. " The 



86 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



zealous efforts of the friends of primitive Chris- 
tianity," faid he, " to difleminate their opinions on 
an extended fcale, had proved almoft an entire 
failure. At home the congregations of apoftolic 
Chriftians had, in ninety-eight inftances out of 
every hundred, dwindled down to a ftate of deplo- 
rable defolation ; and as to its progrefs abroad, the 
fpirit of the primitive do£trine had ftiown itfelf to 
be not expanfive : it was not a mijjionary fpirit ; it 
won no way among the mafs of the people ; and 
every attempt to give it circulation, after ftruggling 
into exiftence, did but ftruggle to exift." 

We caught, from the tones of this comfortlefs 
harangue, an infe£Hon of defpondency. The gloom 
of the building, its defolation echoing the plaints of 
the preacher, opprelTed the imagination ; and we 
expe&ed that, on illuing from this dungeon of de- 
fpair, we fhould behold the heavens overcaft with 
blaclcnefs — that the midfummer's noon would be 
ftained, as by fympathy, with the moral and intel- 
lectual " darknefs of the age." We expefted to 
meet, at the firft turning, fome proceffion of monks, 
or a band of heretics on their way to the fire. In 
a word, we thought of nothing, as we patted the 
untrod threfliold of this Unitarian Apoftolic meet- 
ing-houfe, but to fee the blood-ftained banner of 
fuperftition floating far and wide upon the murky 
(ky! 

But how cheering is the reality that wakens us 
from this difmal dream as we gain the ftreet ! At 



UNIT AR I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 87 



the very moment, twenty churches and chapels of 
the neighbourhood are difgorging their crowds. 
Sunday drefles and Sunday faces, illuminated by a 
Sunday fummer fey, give to the fcene the liveli- 
nefs and grace that fo well befit Chriftianity where 
Chriftianity is free, intelligent, and fmcere. Moft 
of the faces we encounter bear that expreffion of 
independence which is peculiarly Englijh ; very 
few difplay that fort of timid, crabbed, cruel dejec- 
tion which characterizes an age of fanaticifm or of 
fuperftition. And as the crowd is thinning we 
meet feveral of the minifters of the congregations 
that have juft difperfed, and they are men whom 
we recognize as ftanding in the front of whatever 
is free, beneficent, out-fpoken : they are men, fome 
of them erudite, moft of them laborious in their 
fpheres ; and of whom, fcarcely two, are highly 
paid for their fervices. 

Surely we may infer that our preacher of" pri- 
mitive apoftolic Chriftianity" has calumniated his 
times, and is himfelf, if not a cynic, a difappointed 
man : forfooth, juft becaufe neither the irreligious 
of this time nor the religious can be brought to 
liften to his doctrine — juft becaufe he, being him- 
felf in the wrong, muft give fome colour of reafon 
to his comfortlefs condition, he mifreprefents the 
age in which he lives, and dares to attribute to the 
ignorance, the obftinate fanaticifm, and the inte- 
refted fuperftition of the people of England in the 
nineteenth century, a failure which, in fimple fact, 



88 



ESSATS, ETC. 



is nothing but the natural and the inevitable confe- 
quence of a fond attempt to uphold a long ago re- 
futed argument. The complaint of the thoughtful, 
but perfecuted man of the twelfth century awakened 
the fympathy which is due to greatnefs unblefled. 
The moans of this deferted preacher kindle the 
pity which is all that can be beftowed upon fin- 
cere but lucklefs infatuation. 

It is not eafy to imagine an occafion that more 
fignally tries the qualities of a man, or an occafion 
on which he may better eftablifti his claim to the 
chara&er of a philofopher (taking the term in its 
very higheft and beft fenfe) than when, as an ad- 
vocate of unpopular opinions, he is called upon to 
give a reafon for the failure of his zealous endea- 
vours to propagate them. A man who can ex- 
plain his own difcomfiture without egotifm or petu- 
lance, and without misftatement of fa£ts, and with- 
out fupercilious vituperations of the " vulgar/' may 
fairly challenge an elevation of foul which perhaps 
diftinguifhes fcarcely three individuals in a century. 
Placed in a pofition fuch as we are here fuppofing, 
an inferior mind betrays, in one manner or in an- 
other, its ignoble quality ; nor will it reft until it 
has revenged its defeats by flanders; nor be fatisfied 
even then. 

But how admirable were that greatnefs of mind 
which mould lead one who has confpicuoufly failed 
in his endeavours to propagate certain opinions, to 
confefs that the circumftances and the reafons of 



UNITARIJNISM IN ENGLAND. 89 



his difappointment have been fuch as to imply, 
almoft demonftrably, the unfoundnefs of his argu- 
ment — yes — that he has been miftaken ! 

Would that the ftate of Chriftianity in England 
were brighter and better than it is ! that the great 
mafs of the people were habitual frequenters of 
churches and chapels ! that in all churches and 
chapels the principal doctrines of the Reformation 
were plainly and zealoufly preached ! Heartily 
may we wifh that " all bifhops and curates, and all 
congregations committed to their charge," exhi- 
bited, in their lives and converfation, unqueftion- 
able proofs of their receiving largely " the healthful 
fpirit of grace." But if things are not altogether 
as we would have them be, dare we attribute the 
irreligion of the times to the prefence of any argu- 
mentative ob ft ructions or difadvantages which crufh 
the fpirit of free inquiry, or deprive truth of a fair 
hearing ? 'Who is it that dares to fay, or to infi- 
nuate, that prieftly power fo fways and fo enthrals 
the popular mind that the advocates of reafon are 
cowed, browbeaten, and intimidated? Dare we 
affirm that genuine Chriftianity does not fpread 
through the land, becaufe its preachers are driven 
from the field by the hootings of endowed error? 
Such things muft not be faid, for they are contrary 
to plain and confpicuous fa£ts. There has never 
been a fifty years in which — there has never been 
a people among whom — a found argument has had 
a better chance of making head againft old errors 



9 o 



ESSATS, ETC. 



than during the laft fifty years, and among the 
people of England within that time. Nay, during 
the laft fifty years, at feveral moments, the popular 
feeling in England has broken with fo ftormy a 
force againft all ancient and prefcriptive opinions, 
that whoever came forward to impugn them found, 
in every market-place, a people prepared to applaud 
and to devour his moft daring fophiftries. It is 
indeed true that earthly pafiions and worldly inte- 
refts now, as ever, indifpofe the mafs of mankind 
to entertain religious truths, and fo to render the 
religious, as compared with the irreligious, a fmall 
minority ; but it is not true that the temper of the 
times — fpecifically, or that political inftitutions, 
ftand in the way of any one theological fyftem, 
as compared with others. Piety is indeed over- 
powered by worldlinefs of fpirit and fenfuality but 
neither Unitarianifm nor any other peculiar doc- 
trine is fpecially difadvantaged in its ftruggle to hold 
a place among the crowd of religious opinions. 

On the contrary, Unitarianifm has had its auf- 
picious moments — it has had its funny days. Once 
and again it has feemed to be juft fpreading its can- 
vas to the gale, upon a flood-tide of opportunity. 
If there had been in Unitarianifm the vigour of 
profperous life, it might, nay, it muft have lived and 
profpered at fome time during the laft half cen- 
tury.* And if, once and again, it has lapfed and has 



* From 1780 to 1830. 



UNIT ARIANISM IN ENGLAND. 91 



flunk away from the high road of fuccefs, no other 
intelligible account of the fa£t can be given than 
this — that intrinfically it is a doctrine of defolation 
and decay. 

What is it, then, that muft be confefled con- 
cerning the " primitive apoftolic Chriftianity 99 
which is now preached in Unitarian meeting- 
houfes ? Alas ! this doctrine, which, if indeed it 
be the Chriftianity of the Apoftles, had then power 
to conquer all the gods, and to fet foot upon the 
throne of univerfal empire ; now, when it is learn- 
edly and zealoufly propounded to the moft intel- 
ligent, the moft free, and the moft religious people 
in the world, proves itfelf to be — what none will 
liften to — a theory which the poor turn from in 
contempt ! — a doftrine that infpires its converts 
with no zeal ! — a fyftem that can neither walk, nor 
run, nor ftand among competitors ! — a belief that 
fcatters, not gathers ; that defolates, not bleffes ! 
—a phantom of filence, gloom, emptinefs, cold- 
nefs, defpondency ! This is the primitive apof- 
tolic Chriftianity of Unitarianifm ; and it is fo by 
the confeflion of its advocates.* 



* Paflages confirmatory of what is affirmed in this Eflfay 
have been drawn from authentic Unitarian publications. 



9 2 



ESSATS, ETC. 



SECTION II. 

THE entire number of places of worfhip (en- 
dowed and licenfed) in England, might be 
claffified in fome fuch manner as the following : — 
that is to fay, we might take, as the ground of a 
diftin£lion, the degree in which they are ordinarily 
filled. The purpofe of our argument will be fuf- 
ficiently anfwered by a fourfold divifion. Follow- 
ing, then, this rule, the firjt clafs comprehends the 
crowded ; the fecond, the fairly filled ; the third, 
the moderately filled ; and the fourth^ thofe that, 
from Sunday to Sunday, round the year, challenge 
to themfelves, in a pre-eminent degree, the folem- 
nity which waits upon defolation \ or, in other 
words, fuch as are occupied by the parfon, the 
clerk, the pew-opener, and five, feven, fourteen, 
or twenty refolute folks, who have vowed that 
nothing, while life and limb are fpared, fhall drive 
them from the venerable walls. 

As to places of the firft clafs — the crowded — 
we might exclude them from confideration on the 
prefent occafion, as anomalous inftances, it being 
fairly prefumable, and it is found to be fo in fa£t, 
that fuch cafes of extraordinary repletion refult 
from fpecial caufes, fuch as the peculiar attra&ions 
of the preacher, his genius, his fervour, or perhaps 



UNITJRIJNISM IN ENGLAND. 93 

his fertile talent in deviling paradoxes. Here and 
there alfo, local circumftances, fine mufic, or mere 
fafhion, crams a place of worfhip. Be it as it 
may, it would not be fafe to draw general infe- 
rences from fuch inftances. The fecond clafs, or 
the well-filled, may (with a few exceptions eafily 
accounted for) be confidered as fo diftinguifhed 
becaufe the religious inftruction which is obtained 
in them is of a fort that approves itfelf to the con- 
fciences of men as found, efficient, and falutary, 
To this order belong molt of thofe churches of the 
Eftablifhment wherein the doctrines of its founders 
are preached in an able and acceptable manner. 
It includes alfo a fair proportion (perhaps a majo- 
rity) of all Diflenting meeting-houfes and chapels 
in populous neighbourhoods, in which the fame 
doctrines (the doctrines of the Reformation) are 
maintained by men of good education, good cha- 
racter, and refpectable pulpit talents. We come 
then to the third, and perhaps the moft numerous 
clafs, namely, the moderately, or half filled ; they 
are neither defolated nor flourifhing. More feats 
are claimed or let in them than are occupied. Of 
this fort are, firft, a proportion of parifn churches 
throughout the land, in rural diftricts, whereunto 
refort, every Sunday (bad weather excepted) the 
fober folk of the pariih, who would do what they 
do, though the parfon were to preach Iflamifm, and 
perhaps be little the wifer, and not much the worfe 
if he did. Secondly, under this general head are to 



94 



ESSJrSj ETC. 



be reckoned fome number, we fear, of orthodox 
diflenting places, in towns and out of them, and 
which contain a very fimilar genus of " good fort 
of folks," better taught, perhaps, in Chriftianity 
than fome of their neighbours of the Eftablifh- 
ment, and decided foes of all " rites and forms of 
worftiip which are of man's devifing," but not 
much more vivacious either in their intellectual or 
their moral life than other people. Where fuch 
half-filled diflenting places are furrounded with a 
denfe population, we would undertake to affign, 
inftantly, the confpicuous and unqueftionable caufe 
of fo lamentable a wafte of pew room. 

Laft come the empty. It is no bull to call a 
thing empty ^ whether it be box, vafe, houfe, purfe, 
church, or chapel, which is not found to contain 
what one reafonably experts to fee within it, even 
though there be not an abfolute vacuum. In this 
fenfe, an empty place of worfliip is one in which, 
though there is fome dozen of men, women, and 
children, there is no congregation. Inftances of 
very diffimilar forts come under this head ; as firft, 
a few parifli churches, the officiating minifter in 
which, either by his bad reputation, or his ineffi- 
ciency as a teacher, fecures for his own voice and 
his clerks all the advantages of folemn echo from 
bare walls. But to whom among the feftarifts 
belong thefe deferted chapels ? We are prepared 
to affirm, that an exceedingly fmall number can 
be claimed by the orthodox diflenters of any deno- 



UNITARUNISM IN ENGLAND. 95 



mination. Here and there, indeed, fome pitiable 
drone, barricadoed in his pulpit by "the endow- 
ment," and protected from public opinion by his 
utter obfcurity, "keeps the doors" of an ancient 
meeting-houfe "open" (to ufe a technical, and a 
very fignificant phrafe) by his fomnific inanities ; 
and, perhaps, on fome crowded highway, where a 
multitude of fouls might have been faved, he holds 
up, weekly, the glorious gofpel on a ftage, for the 
feoff of each Sunday ftraggler ! Inftances of this 
fort among the orthodox diflenters are, we fay, 
extremely rare. Who then claims the remainder ? 
It is Unitarianifm. And in what proportion ? In 
the proportion of ninety out of every hundred of 
all its places of worfhip. 

We muft dilate a while upon this fa£t, and again 
recur to our claffiflcation. If we err in particulars 
we mall willingly receive corredtion, and yet even 
in that cafe we need acknowledge no detriment to 
our argument. We believe, then, that Englifh 
Unitarianifm has fcarcely a place that is ordinarily 
crowded^ or over-filled. Afluredly it has not five 
fuch places -> and we do not hefitate to fay, that 
nothing can be more improbable than that a 
preacher of this clafs mould excite that fort of in- 
tenfe feeling which could attract a throng. A 
very clever man, or a learned one, or a man of 
eminent perfpicacity, or of fine tafte, may adopt the 
Unitarian creed ; but how rarely mail we find 
among its advocates a powerful and well-propor- 



9 6 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



tioned intellect, vivified by glowing fenfibilities, 
and rife with the foul of eloquence ? Unitarianifm, 
by its repreflive property, is forbidden to become 
attractive to a promifcuous multitude. 

Three or four (we doubt if there be five) Uni- 
tarian chapels in England are well filled, although 
not crowded. But in thefe few inftances all the 
Unitarianifm of one fide of the metropolis, or of 
a populous manufacturing town, is brought toge- 
ther, and makes indeed a fair fhow, if only it be 
thought of apart from the fpace whence it has been 
gathered. 

It is a remarkable fact, that the fyftem of doc- 
trine of which we are fpeaking feems not to be 
fufceptible of any middle ftate of profperity. Uni- 
tarian places of worfliip are either the three or 
four, or poffibly the five, well-filled chapels in 
London, Birmingham, Liverpool ; or they are the 
three or four hundred dungeons of defolation which 
are found elfewhere. Where, in towns of the 
fecond and third-rate fize, are the edifices that 
bring together, on a Sunday, a fair proportion of 
the feveral orders, namely, the opulent, the trad- 
ing, and the poor, to liften to Unitarian doctrine ? 
Hardly will any fuch inftances be met with. Uni- 
tarianifm exifts either by collecting fcattered indi- 
viduals from large circles ; or purely by aid of en- 
dowments, where a congregation has long ceafed to 
be thought of. So much for our third clafs. 

Nothing can be more fignificant than the facts 



UNITAR I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 97 



that prefent themfelves in turning to the fourth 
clafs, or the empty. No feet at all approximates 
to the proportion which the empty chapels of the 
Unitarians bear to the entire number. To fay 
that, of a thoufand parifh churches taken indifcri- 
minately in town and country, one hundred and 
twenty-five, or one-eighth, are graced with the 
chilly grandeur of vacuity, is, we think, allowing a 
too large number. We doubt if the Methodifts, 
either W efleyan or Calviniftic, have three empty 
chapels in a hundred ; the Baptifts may perhaps 
claim five or ten in the fame number ; the Inde- 
pendents three or four ; the Quakers fifty, or 
more. But by their own ftatements, ninety-eight 
Unitarian chapels in every hundred are defolate. 
Yet, as our argument is of a general kind, and is 
quite independent of nice calculations, we are 
willing to fuppofe that ten in a hundred own a 
congregation ; nay, let it be twenty ; let it be faid 
that not more than four-fifths of the Unitarian 
pew-ground is a defert. Here then we might 
Hop. We mould be content to leave the inference 
to every man's common fenfe. Moft affuredly, 
were we Unitarians, we mould accept the fact, 
under the circumftances which belong to it, as 
a fufficient proof of the badnefs, or, if not fo, at 
lean: of the hopelefihefs of the caufe. If Unitarian 
chapels are empty, it is not becaufe " this is an 
age of darknefs and fanaticifm," it is not becaufe 
Unitarians are liable to imprifonments, confifca- 

H 



98 ESS ATS, ETC. 

tions, fines ; but it is for the fimple and the fatis- 
factory reafon that, with the Bible on the pulpit 
cufhion, it fails to make good its pretenfions — the 
mafs of the people being judges. 

It is ufelefs to flinch from fo confpicuous an in- 
ference. Chriftianity has, indeed, often been 
crufhed, or been beaten out of a country by force 
of arms, and cruel perfections ; or it has expired 
amid the general decay of learning, or in the ab- 
fence of political fecurity, or in the decline of 
national life. We mourn in fuch cafes this extinc- 
tion of the living power, yet we cannot marvel. 
But what ought we to think, and what are the 
appalling furmifes which muft come in upon the 
heart, if it fliould appear that Chriftianity, in its 
pure and its primitive form — Chriftianity, which 
was announced as a blefting to the poor, and to the 
multitude — yet, when it is proclaimed among an 
enlightened people, in an age of freedom and of 
intellectual activity, can gain no hearing? What 
if we fee that this " Apoftolic doctrine," entering 
upon a congregation which had been fairly taken 
from all ranks, prefently fcatters it — retaining no- 
thing of the good things upon which it laid its 
hand, excepting the endowments, and the defolated 
walls ? And what if thefe things take place again, 
and again, and yet again ? Is there no fignificance 
in facts fuch as thefe ? 

But now, in proof and illuftration of our alle- 
gations, we muft bring together a number of ad- 



UN IT A R I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 99 



miffions which we find fcattered through feveral 
numbers of a work that is the recognized organ 
of this Denomination.* 

" Our chapels are but thinly attended, and our 
intereft but flow in progrefs. Perhaps, if we ad- 
vert to the increafe of population in thefe king- 
doms, we muft not fpeakof progrefs, but of retro- 
gradation." 

"From the efforts of mifiionaries," fays the 
writer, " let us turn to the adtual condition of 
our congregations. Thefe we may divide into 
two claffes, the ancient and the modern : thofe we 
have received from our predeceffors, and thofe 
created by the prefent generation. Of many of 
both claffes the tale is brief and mournful. There 
are a few of the old chapels, fituated in large and 
flourifhing towns, in which congregations worfhip, 
refpeilable both as to numbers and character. 
From the narrow fphere of the Unitarian view, 
however, thefe are greatly overrated. Everything 
is fmall or great by comparifon. To a child, a 
houfe of fix rooms is a manfion \ to Unitarians, a 
Briftol or a Manchefter audience is magnificent ! 
But let thefe half dozen flourifhing congregations 
be deemed of as highly as we will, ftill fix prof- 
perous focieties out of fome three hundred is a 
fmall proportion. We do not mean to intimate 



* The Monthly Repofitory for the time to which this 
Effay relates. 



100 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



that all the reft are dying or dead — far from it. 
There is a large middle clafs which fupports a 
healthy appearance ; but many of the old chapels 
among us are in a pitiable ftate. Of our own 
knowledge, we can fpeak oijome /cores that fcarcely 
fhow figns of life. The number of hearers in them 
Will not average more than thirty, the falary of the 
minifter not more than feventy pounds per annum. 
Few beings are more to be pitied than a Unitarian 
minifter, placed in one of thefe focieties. A man 
of education, with the miferable pittance of fome 
feventy pounds per year, which, with much toil 
and folicitude, he may perhaps, but not in all cafes, 
raife to a bare hundred. With this he has a wife 
and children to fupport, and a decent appearance 
to maintain. Nor is this infignificant fum to be 
obtained without fundry and conftant vexations 
from truftee influence and truftee domination. If 
animated by a laudable wifh to extend the boun- 
daries of his pafture, the minifter is encountered 
by coldnefs and oppofition. The poor who attend 
his fervices would gladly lend their countenance 
and aid; but the great man, who is alfo the keeper 
of the purfe, frowns the intention down. On other 
occafions, the minifter is checked in his purpofes 
for want of pecuniary affiftance, or by the engage- 
ments and vexations of a fchool. There are many, 
very many of our minifters in this condition. Men 
of talent, education, and lofty moral feeling, are 
fuffering for the caufe of truth, and, by reafon of 



UNITARIAN ISM IN ENGLAND. 101 



others' unfaithfulnefs, in remote villages and de- 
clining towns, differing in a way and to an extent 
that nothing but moral ftrength and the force of 
principle could enable them to fuftain. Imagine 
thefe men placed in fituations fitting to call out 
their powers, to fan the flame of their piety and 
zeal, to reward with a competency their labours, 
and how different would be their condition and 
their characters ! In the actual cafe, however, how 
much of moral power is thrown away ! how much 
of intellectual excellence is loft ! and for what ! 
To re-enact the ftory told in Mr. Wright's narra- 
tive of his miflionary life and labours — to conduct 
in decency a few fexagenarians to the grave, and 
then to clofe the doors ! Let us not be fuppofed 
to jeft with the fubject ; it is too ferious, and too 
true, to admit of a fmile. If this is not the pro- 
bable end of no few of the old Prefbyterian chapels, 
we are yet to learn what other fate they can in all 
probability undergo. Thequeftion, then, is eafily 
folved, whether or not it is worth while to facrifice 
fome of the excellent of the earth to fuch an ob- 
ject ? Can fuch a confummation be avoided ? Not 
in the actual ftate of things. But if the Unitarian 
body would rife to a fenfe of its duties, and to a 
manly advocacy of the caufe of truth, the moft 
defirable change might be effected : but of this 
more anon. 

" Equally grieved are we when we contemplate 
the condition of the congregations which have been 



102 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



raifed within the laft fifteen years. Many chapels 
have been built ; how few are adequately attended ! 
If it were not an invidious tafk, we could eftablifh 
this afiertion by the mention of a&ual inftances. 
Doubtlefs there are fome of our young focieties that 
promife to furvive, a few that flourifh, but many 
of them are ftruggling hard for exiftence. In nearly 
all of them the minifter is in a condition little bet- 
ter than thofe are who are attached to the former 
clafs. From what has been faid, it is evident that 
the caufe of Unitarianifm in thefe kingdoms, as far 
as its condition may be eftimated by the numbers 
who conftitute its congregations, is by no means 
in a fatisfadtory ftate. 

u We dare not hope that the kingdom of Chrift 
is advancing under our aufpices. The world around 
us is lying in wickednefs. The homeof the majority 
of our readers is furrounded by many who are in 
the gall of bitternefs, being enflaved by fin ; and 
what healing ftream have we recently fet to flow, 
what light have we kindled to cleanfe and illume 
our fuffering fellow-men ? Our neighbourhoods 
are incefiantly increafing; the young fwarm around 
us on every fide ; thofe of riper years arife in 
crowds. Where is there, on our part, an increafe 
of exertion, an augmentation of moral energy, to 
meet the growing demand ? Alas ! the general 
effedt of the thickening of the population is to hide 
from public view the temples devoted to our wor- 
Ihip, to hide our candle under a bulhel, and to re- 



UNITJRIJNISM IN ENGLAND. 103 



ftridt the moral influence which we exert. How 
long will thefe things be ? Have we arrived at the 
loweft point of depreffion ? May a change for the 
better be expected ? All things, we iterate, are in 
our pofleflion, requifite to exert a moft healing and 
efficient influence on our fellow-men, all but the 
great mover, the life and foul of adlion — the will." 

Not a word of comment needs be fubjoined to 
thefe quotations ; we leave the inference to every 
man's good fenfe, and purfue our intention a page 
or two further. 



SECTION III. 

FAR mould we be from intending to infult the 
unhappy ! Neverthelefs, we muft fay fome- 
thing of a cafe which appears to be Angularly un- 
defirable, whether it be regarded in a fecular or in 
a fpiritual light — we mean that of more than four- 
fifths of all the preachers of Unitarianifm in Eng- 
land at the prefent time. 

In fpite of pride, in fpite of reafon, in fpite either 
of abftradl principles or of internal fatisfa£Hons, 
every man (or all but madmen and enthufiafts) 
efteems his own pofition in fociety very much as 
he perceives it to be efteemed by thofe around him. 
To fome extent, a man is happy who is thought to 



104 ESSAYS, ETC. 

be fo, and wretched if he knows that the world 
pities or condemns him. If this be not a univerfal 
truth, it is a general one. Now it is granted that 
a faithful Chriftian minifter, the fervant of God in 
an evil world, is called, at times, and in peculiar 
fituations, to bear up againft the general contumely 
of mankind, and is compelled to recolle£t the real 
dignity, and the high importance, and the future 
honours of his office, in order to fupport himfelf 
under the fcorn of a licentious or of a gainfaying 
world. Something of this fort may happen even 
in our own enlightened and religionized country. 
Much more does it happen to the Chriftian mif- 
fionary, as he urges his difcouraged fteps daily 
through the crowded ways of an idolatrous city ! 
But in fuch inftances a wife and good man, al- 
though, as a man, he feels opprellively the weight 
of the circumambient fcorn of his fellows, never- 
thelefs readily turns to confiderations which fuf- 
tain his courage. He recolle£ts, for example, the 
immenfe and confpicuous fuperiority of the religion 
he bears with him over that which he impugns. 
Then his thoughts fly homeward, and he remem- 
bers that the dodrrine which is fcorned by the men 
of India is honoured by the men of England ; or 
his meditations carry him back to the ages of the 
primitive triumphs of the Gofpel, or forward to the 
millennium of its univerfal afcendancy. Thus he 
rebuts contempt by aid of reafon and of faith. 
We are willing to grant that, unlefs he can bring 



UNITARIANISM IN ENGLAND. 105 



home to his heart, often, and without queftion, a 
large meafure of fuch meditative comfort, a Chrif- 
tian minifter who ftands, from youth to age, in 
the centre of a circle of defolation, is one whom 
we mould deem efpecially miferable. In how 
great a degree the deferted Unitarian preacher (and 
fuch are, as it appears, eighty, or more, in every 
hundred) may fuftain his fortitude by abftracl: me- 
ditations, or by diftant hopes, is a queftion we (hall 
not attempt to folve ; but, inftead of this, we mail 
examine a little more clofely his actual pofition. 
And firft, for its moft palpable item — his pecuniary 
remuneration.* That his income is fmall, and that 
it is incapable of much augmentation, he does not 
complain of, for this is a difadvantage which he faw 
diftin£tly before him when he devoted himfelf to 
the minifterial calling, and which he mares with 
too many of the clergy of all denominations, of 
whom, perhaps, a majority are very inadequately 
recompenfed for their iervices ; but there are pecu- 
liar circumftances attaching to his falary which muft 
make him who receives it feel himfelf humiliated 
in exifting on fuch terms. Not like the poor 
curate,or the incumbent, whoreceives a fum which 
the law gives him, and who, fo long as he dis- 
charges certain duties, is as well and truly entitled 
to his tithe or his ftipend as the fquire is to his 
rents ; nor like the poor Diffenting minifter among 



* Written in 1830. 



io6 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



the orthodox fe£ts, who fubfifts, though hardly, in- 
deed, upon the free-will offerings of a needy flock, 
cheerfully rendered to the man of their hearts; not 
fo; forthe pittance on which thechildren of the Uni- 
tarian minifter fo barely live has been obtained for 
him — muft we not fay it, wrongfully ? — his income, 
or three-fourths of it, is derived from the perverfion 
of a teftamentary grant. Fifteen {hillings in every 
twenty muft burn his palm as he takes them, if he 
be a man of keen fenfibility. The thirty, fixty, 
hundred pounds per annum, which, if it be not the 
whole of his falary, is that on which his continu- 
ance in his place abfolutely depends, had beendef- 
tined, by the puritanic donor, for the maintenance 
of a dodtrine which the man who receives it is 
always labouring to impugn. Sad pofition ! hard 
fervice ! The minifter who ftands in a pulpit under 
fuch conditions might well, as he glances at the 
tablet dedicated to the memory of the munificent 
dead, imagine that he hears the " ftone out of 
the wall" uttering the reproachful taunt, " He who 
eateth of my bread hath lifted up his heel againft 
me I 

But we will fuppofe only (and it is far below the 
average of inftances) that not more than one-third 
of the Unitarian minifter's falary proceeds from a 
perverted endowment : whence come the two- 
thirds ? Not, as we have faid, from the collected 
pence or (hillings of four or five hundred hearers, 
who, in fparing fo much, fpare their utmoft, but 



UNITARIANS M IN ENGLAND. 107 



from feven or eight, or a dozen, deep and grudging 
purfes, upon the brims of which a covetoufnefs is 
written that utterly condemns the Chriftianity of 
the holders. Six or eight_handfome equipages con- 
vey weekly the fupporters of the chapel to its doors, 
but each fets down a grudging contributor to their 
minifter's income. Unhappy man, who pines upon 
a hundred pounds, in part wrefted from the infulted 
dead, in part wrung from the reluctant living ! 

We hardly need adduce fpecific evidence in fup- 
port of thefe alTertions. Neverthelefs, the inftances 
being univerfally known, we do no wrong in bring- 
ing forward a palTage or two from authentic fources, 
which bear upon this point. A Unitarian writer, 
after affirming that " Unitarians are, for their num- 
bers, the richeft body of religionifts in the king- 
dom, and contribute leaft to religious objects," 
goes on to fay that — 

" The full evidence of this aflertion is not ad- 
duced till it be ftated, that perhaps one-half of the 
infignificantftipendspaidto their minifters proceeds 
from the charity of preceding ages. We do not, we 
think, over-eftimate the amount of endowments in 
pofleffion of Unitarian truftees. In many inftances 
the whole of the falary proceeds from endowments ; 
and though the minifter is obliged to unite two 
arduous profeflions in order to find the means of 
a humble fubfiftence, or, where a fchool is not at- 
tainable, is obliged to live on the very edge of po- 
verty, and, though there is one or more perfons in 



io8 



ESSATS, ETC. 



his flock of ample and fuperfluous means, yet the 
utmoft that is done by voluntary contributions is 
the raifing enough to defray the expenfes of open- 
ing and cleaning the chapel ; and we have known 
inftances in which any extraordinary outlay, arifing 
from repairs or the delivery of lectures, has been 
fubftracted, either wholly or in part, from the mi- 
nifter's pittance. In other cafes not the whole, 
but a part — generally the chief part of the tiny fum 
received by the minifter — proceeds from endow- 
ments. A few inftances there are in which no 
endowment is poffeffed ; and we declare it as our 
convidtion, that the focieties where this is the cafe 
are in general the moft flourishing. And now then, 
we freely and heartily fay, that we wifh that all the 
endowments pofTeffed by our body were irretriev- 
ably funk to the bottom of the ocean. Other de- 
nominations, poorer than we a hundred-fold, have 
them not, and flourifti : we have them, and we 
languifti. They have been, they are an incubus to 
our caufe, and the orthodox could not do us a 
greater fervice than towreft them from our hands." 



SECTION IV. 

BUT we turn to the other fide of the Unitarian 
minifter's pofition. Amid his pecuniary hu- 
miliations, can he folace himfelf in contemplating 



UNITJRIANISM IN ENGLAND. 109 

the fuccefs of his fpiritual labours ? Can he derive, 
from the manifeft efficiency of his miniftrations, a 
confolation which reconciles him to his melancholy 
lot ? He, and he alone, upon the fuppofition of the 
truth of the Unitarian fyftem, holds in his hand that 
potent engine which, a while ago, overthrew tern- * 
pies and afcended thrones, and vanquifhed the na- 
tions. What does it achieve in his hands ? We 
put this queftion to his candour. Thefe are not 
the days of myftification — thefe are not the days in 
which a man may hide facts from himfelf and from 
others by vague and unmeaning declamation. We 
afk, then, the Unitarian minifter to tell us, and let 
him tell us as if he were giving evidence before a 
dozen plain men, what does he fee, within his par- 
ticular fphere, of the power of the Gofpel ? Let 
him anfwer, firft, in reference to the numbers 
whom he ftatedly addreffes, and then as to the ap- 
parent benefit which is derived from his inftruc- 
tions by thofe that hear him. 

Or, if an inference from fingle inflances be diP 
liked, let us look at Unitarianifm (this only genuine 
Chriftianity) as it ftands in the country at large, and 
view 7 ed as an inftrument of national virtue. We 
afk aloud, Is Unitarianifm, with all its chapels, 
worth, to the people of England, as an actual means 
of effecting a general reformation of manners — is 
it worth the revenues of the poorer! of our bifhop- 
rics ? Is it worth the falaries of a fcore of excife- 
men ? Nay, tell us plainly, is it worth anything ? 



no 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



If all the Unitarian chapels in England were let to- 
morrow for penitentiaries or for warehoufes, would 
the aggregate virtue of the Englifh people exhibit, 
in the following year, any appreciable deteriora- 
tion ? Indeed, we think not. 

How cheerlefs, then, and how comfortlefs, are 
the endeavours of each fingle labourer, when the 
worth of the aggregate labour of all is too diminu- 
tive a thing to be meafured or reckoned ! How de- 
plorable is the lot of a man who not only is unfuc- 
cefsful in his particular fphere, but who, on looking 
round among his colleagues, far and near, fees ninety 
of them, out of every hundred, in the fame difmal 
predicament — hopeleffly unfuccefsful ! How {hall 
he defend his bofom againft the inroad of the moil: 
heart- fickening of all convidtions that canfmite the 
human breaft — the conviction of toiling through 
life fruitleffly ? 

This thriftlefs labourer meets in fociety thofe 
with whom he fet out on the courfe of life ; each is 
alert (if not all fuccefsful) in the purfuit of interefts 
the promotion of which, though private, is the pro- 
motion of the commonwealth and general prof- 
perity ; but he, although not lefs well-educated than 
they — more fo, probably — not lefs intelligent, not 
lefs capable of achieving fuccefs by energy and 
talent — he, although perhaps pofleffingan advantage 
over his fellows in fome of thefe refpe£ts,yet floats 
for ever upon a ftagnant pool, in the waters of which 
nothing moves — over the furface of which not a 



UNIT ARIANISM IN ENGLAND, in 



living thing will flit! They — the companions of 
his boyhood, are ploughing, fowing, and reaping; 
he is ever fowing — fowing fterile fands, that are 
watered only with briny tears of defpair ! Once in 
the round of feven days he bends his fteps, heart- 
fallen and lick of the profitlefs ufages of devotion, 
to his chapel. No glillening eyes of the poor and 
afflicted, whofe hearts he is to cheer, watch his 
approach ; no joyous founds of cordial univerfal 
worfhip are to greet his ear. The few are in their 
wonted places. Would he were left to indulge his 
melancholy mufings in folitude ! He delivers the 
appointed couplets of " adoration of the few 
worfhippers, a few only refpond. He reads the 
Scriptures ; but of thefe one verfe in every five 
ftiocks his faftidious tafte, or afks a crooked criti- 
cifm, to turn afide the edge of its obvious mean- 
ing. He prays : yes, he prays ; but who is it that 
joins him ? Do not the more knowing of his flock 
inwardly difallow the folemn impertinence which 
affumes that there is any efficacy in prayer? None 
but the fimple believe in it. He preaches : he 
utters — fo he fays — the foul-wakening doctrine of 
immortality, ftripped of every corruption, and there- 
fore, by necefiary confequence, potent to reform the 
profligate, and to fpiritualize the earthly-minded ! 
Preacher! fhow to the world the roll of your actual 
triumphs ! The week's work is done, the congre- 
gation is difmifled, and the functionary returns to 
his home \ and, as a public perfon y he feels himfelf 



112 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



an infulated being. Laden with care, he is a fine- 
curift, unconnected with the multitude of men 
either by relationfhip of fecular utility, or by the 
bond of fpiritual fympathy, or by the part he takes 
in any efficient labours of Chriftian beneficence. 

" The Unitarian" — we quote an authority — 
" is an infulated being. He ftands apart from the 
reft of his fellow Chriitians. If he has focietyout 
of his own connection, he muft feek it with thofe 
who believe lefs,not more than himfelf : if he withes 
to be friendly with the orthodox, he is looked upon 
with diftance: if to join in their benevolent plans, 
with avoidance : if to rectify their errors, with 
horror. He can find his way neither to their head 
nor their heart. The public fervices of his temple 
they avoid, as they would a lazar-house. He is 
cabbined, cribbed, and confined on all fides : his 
days are fpent in inaction, and his charities are nar- 
rowed bv reafon of reftraint. He is a ftranp-er in 

J D 

a ftrange land, having a peculiar language, a pecu- 
liar fpirit, a peculiar creed. . B . What wonder their 
compofitions and addreffes are cold, when the au- 
dience is fmall and lukewarm ? What wonder their 
affections are dull, when the atmofphere in which 
they live is heavy and fluggifli r" 

But we are compelled to fay a word more of the 
infelicity of the lot of a Unitarian minifter. We 
fuppofe him to be, as many of them unqueftion- 
ably are, a man of benevolence, and a man of in- 
telligence ; and he is one who is accuftomed to 



UNITARIANISM IN ENGLAND. 113 



look at the progrefs and profpects of fociety in a 
broad and philofophical light. We afk fuch a one 
then in what way he thinks the miffionary labours 
of the prefent age will be regarded by pofterity ? 
Say, that thefe endeavours to convert the pagan 
world fhall for the prefent fail, and be abandoned ; 
or fay that they {hall profper, and fhall actually 
ufher in a glorious univerfality of the heavenly doc- 
trine ; we care not now which of thefe fuppofitions 
is affumed. Take the former ; and, if it mould be 
fo, will not the men who are now carrying their 
lives in their hands into the depths of barbarifm be 
reckoned among the moft courageous of philan- 
thropies ? Will fmall praife be theirs in the lips of 
the Chriftians of diftant times ? Who dares think 
otherwife than that, even although their immediate 
labours mould be aimoft fruitlefs, the men mail be 
honoured as heroes of mercy ? They have done 
what they could. 

But let us take the fecond, and brighter fuppo- 
fition ; and does it feem an extravagant one, that 
the coftly effort which is now in progrefs for evan- 
gelizing the heathen world fhall profper and fpread 
itfelf, and mall go on conquering, as truth conquers 
delufion, until all nations have come to bow the 
knee to Chrifl: ? At the moment of the climax of 
fuch a fuccefs as this, we afk, whether the lot of 
thofe who flood foremoft in the enterprife, and 
who fuftained the forrow of initial difcomfitures, 
will not feem to have been enviable ? We afk, 



ii4 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



whether the men who, on this fuppofition, may 
claim to have been the promulgators of a new dif- 
penfation of mercy to mankind, will not be named, 
and be thought of, as among the moft illuftrious, 
and the moft favoured of the human race? 

Fully we believe that, to the eye of future times, 
the fcenes, the anions, the perfonages of the pre- 
fent evangelical warfare mall ftand forward as thofe 
fcenes, and adtions, and perfonages of the age which 
are the moft worthy to fix the gaze of the men of 
after ages. And who is it would wifh to be alto- 
gether fevered from the glories and the labours of 
the miffionary work ? Not for fceptres, not if the 
material univerfe and its flaming funs were the 
bribe, fhould a man choofe to ftand off from the 
miffionary enterprife. Not for an immortality of 
earthly fatis factions ftiould any one be content, 
either to confefs the guilt of an inward indifference 
to the miffionary work, or, feeling himfelf alive to 
its fucceffes, be fettered and held in inaction by the 
indifference of the party to which he belongs. 

But is not this fanaticifm ? Let him who calls 
it fo come forward and make good his allegation. 
The hope and the zeal of the evangelical com- 
munity is not the lefs built upon fubftantial reafon- 
ing, even if it has become loud and eager. 

What part then has Unitarianifm in the blef- 
fednefs of the miffionary work ? By the miffionary 
work we mean — not the profelytizing at home from 
other perfuafions, but the veritable evangelizing of 



UNITARIANS M IN ENGL AND. 1 1 5 

heathen or Mohammedan nations. A work emi- 
nently becoming a great and Chriftian country; a 
work from which no Chriftian man, now that it 
is actually in progrefs, can be content to ftand, 
either excufed or excluded. 

" There never was a fyftem," fays a Unitarian 
writer, " which was fo general in its regards, 
which bore fo invafive a character, as Chriftianity 

in its earlieft days Every preacher was 

a miffionary, going about doing good, fent, and 
glorying in his office, to proclaim the acceptable 
year of the Lord. We are fure, therefore, that the 
fpirit of miffions is the fpirit of Chrift and of Chrif- 
tianity." Or, to ufe the language of the fame 
writer in another place : " All mud: acknowledge 
that Chriftianity is fitted for profelytizing, for in 
this way it gained its firft and its faireft triumphs. 
If, then, Unitarianifm be, as fuppofed^ unfit for this 
work, it is not the truth as it is in Jefus, and the 
fooner we are rid of it the better." 

So indeed we fay. But with this implied in- 
ference, fignificant as it is, we have nothing now 
to do : we leave it to thofe whom it concerns. 
Firft, for the facts of the cafe, which are foon 
enumerated. The Unitarians, by their own fhow- 
ing, are the only holders of u primitive apoftolic 
Chriftianity — of Chriftianity u uncorrupt, ra- 
tional, vital." Whatever, therefore, of intrinfic 
power or expanfivenefs belongs to the Gofpel, 
muft belong, by eminence, to the Gofpel when it- 



n6 ESSAYS, ETC. 

is thus difengaged from all human additions. Of 
all forms of the doctrine of Chrift, Unitarianifm 
muft be the moft energetic, inafmuch as it is the 
moft pure ; nay, as it is the only pure. Moreover, 
Unitarians poffefs all the requifites for giving effect 
and expreffion to that apoftolic zeal which burns 
in their bofoms. " Latent power," we are told, 
" they have in abundance ; moral character, intel- 
lectual worth, and worldly affluence, — none of 
thefe things are wanting." In truth, we are af- 
fured, with a folemn iteration of the unqueftionable 
fact, that the Unitarians are, for their numbers, 
the richeft body of religionifts in the kingdom. And 
we muft fay, that if they are not, in fact, the moft 
numerous, as well as the moft wealthy body of reli- 
gionifts, they have had a fair chance of becoming 
fo, if indeed this had been poffible. Why mould 
not "primitive apoftolic Chriftianity " have fpread 
itfelf in England, during the fame years, as widely 
as Wefleyan Methodifm ? We cannot tell why ; 
unlefs we were permitted to fay, that Unitarianifm 
is an impotent doctrine. 

And now for the refult, which we may give, 
firft in general terms, and then in fpecific details. 
And in doing fo, we (hall confine ourfelves to au- 
thentic Unitarian documents. 

Referring to the modern miffionary zeal, which, 
in its fubftance, our authority applauds, he confeffes 
that cc Unitarians have not moved forward with 
the general mafs." " There is a deadnefs in many 



UNITARIJNISM IN ENGLAND. 1 1 7 

of our moft ufeful inftitutions, a flatnefs and apathy 
in regard to religious matters, too frequently pre- 
vailing among our lay brethren." Or, to come 
nearer to the matter in hand : — 

" The miffionary labours of the Unitarian Affo- 
ciation during the laft year, muft be pronounced 
an almoft entire failure. Three miffionaries" (that 
is to fay, itinerants at home) " have been employed, 

and they have been employed nearly in vain 

The miffions " {itinerancies} " conduced by the 
young men at York College, have been from time 
to time diminiftied, till now they have, with the 
exception of that to W elburn, little more than a 
name to live." 

Again : — 

" Throughout the kingdom, the refult of the 
miffionary labours undertaken by Unitarians of 
late, has been a difappointing one. How happens 
this ? Chiefly, we doubt not, becaufe the fpirit of 
Unitarians in this kingdom, is not the miffionary 
fpirit. Very many are hoftile to miffionary exer- 
tions, and efpecially the more rich and influential. 
The focieties that have been and are, have ftrug- 
gled into being, and ftruggle to exift. They have 
in fome inftances been formed by a few, in oppo- 
fition to the will of the many; while the many 
looked on in apathy or fcorn. The propriety of 
their exiftence has been gravely queftioned ; the 
overture for aid to maintain them, met with a fmile 
of aftonifhment ; while almoft in every inftance, 



n8 ESSAYS, ETC. 



thofe who affeft to give the tone to others, and 
who unfortunately have had but too much influ- 
ence, have not only kept aloof from, but fpoken 
warmly againft them. In a word, the current of 
fafliion has been, and ftill is, of an anti-miffionary 
hue. Miffionary exertions have been denounced 
as vulgar, as interfering with the harmony and 
polifti of refined and mifcellaneous fociety." 

With a Angular naivete, after making thefe 
ominous confeffions, the writer goes on :— 

" There may be fome who think that the caufe 
of the failure of our miffionary labours is to be 
found in the unfitnefs for profelytifm of the tenets 
which we hold. If this opinion was well founded, 
a ftronger prefumption of the falfity of Unitarian- 
ifm could not be imagined !" 

This may be evidence enough, in relation to our 
prefent purpofe, but we add a fentence or two, 
drawn from the fame fource. 

" The inftitutions that exift among us for the 
promotion of the great purpofes of religion, are 
few in number, and languifhing for the moft part 
in operation. Even the Britifh and Foreign Uni- 
tarian AfTociation itfelf, though fo catholic in its 
objedts, fo judicious in its exertions, and inheriting 
from its predecelTors — the Fund, fo honourable and 
well merited a reputation, has by no means met 
with the general and hearty co-operation that it 
deferves." 

" The Gofpel, they " (the orthodox) " argue is 



VNITARIANISM IN ENGLAND. 119 



of infinite value. The Unitarians are fufficiently 
indifferent about it : little do they to put others in 
pofleflion of its bleffings. How can they duly 
eftimate its value, or have the fpirit of Chrift ? 
Nay, may they not even difbelieve that which they 
are by no means anxious to further ?" 

" In confequence of the want of co-operation, 
our inftitutions and our caufe want fpirit, activity, 
and energy ; and the orthodox look on, and be- 
holding how much we are at eafe, how quiefcent 
we each are, how little alive to the fuccefs of any 
obje£t, and efpecially how lukewarm about the 
falvation of our fellow-creatures, judge that there 
muft be fomething radically wrong in our fyftem ; 
a cooling and chilling influence, which breathes 
not from the pages of the Gofpel." 

So much for the general ftatement of the anti- 
miflionary temper of Unitarianifm. What are the 
fpecific facts which have compelled Unitarian 
writers to make confeffions fuch as thefe ? 

" But the moft painful cafe of failure yet remains 
to be noticed. India, the firft field of our mif- 
fionary exertions in foreign lands, — India, whofe 
fpiritual welfare awakened an intereft in the breafts 
of many of the moft enlightened and pious men of 
America, as well as England, — an intereft which 
exhibited the Unitarian body in the moft pleafing 
attitude that it ever affumed; India, which with 
the name of its wife, learned, and benevolent 
Brahmin, gave the faireft promife of an eventual, 



120 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



though perhaps a tardy harveft ; this country, 
which had excited our own hope more, perhaps, 
than any other fpot, America excepted, is now 
without a Unitarian miffionary and the means of 
Unitarian worfhip ! But we correft ourfelves ; 
we do wrong, in fo faying, to that excellent and 
perfevering man William Roberts. We were 
thinking, in writing the above, of Mr. Adam." 

It would be altogether irrelevant to our purpofe 
to adduce the pretty well-known hiftories of the 
individuals above alluded to. Let the labours of 
William Roberts at Madras, or elfewhere, and the 
defunft efforts of Mr. Adam at Calcutta, carry all 
the importance that can poflibly attach to them, 
and let them be held available for the defirable 
purpofe of convi&ing any man of mifreprefenta- 
tion, who fliall be fo hafty as to affirm that Uni- 
tarians have attempted, or are attempting, nothing 
for the diffufion of Chriftianity among the heathen ? 
Far be it from us to advance any fuch calumnious 
predication ! By no means ; the Unitarians have 
William Roberts at Madras, and they had Mr. 
Adam at Calcutta ! 

But we turn to an account of an annual meeting 
of the " Britifh and Foreign Unitarian Aflbciation," 
the objeft of which is the diffufion, at home and 
abroad, of the unfullied light of rational, liberal, 
primitive, and apoftolic Chriftianity. From the 
ftatement of the treafurer, it appears, that (not- 
withftanding a " falling off of donations and collec- 



UNIT ARIANISM IN ENGLAND. 121 



tions ") the " moft opulent body of Chriftians in 
England 99 raifed during the year, the fum of " one 
thoufand and odd pounds," for the furtherance of 
their pious intentions ! The expenditure has con- 
firmed of — 1. The charge for purchaling and print- 
ing books, namely, £454 15s. nd. 2. Upwards 
of £300 expended on congregational and miffionary 
objects at home; and 3. (let Chriftendom hear 
it !) two hundred and fifty pounds, on account of 
the Foreign Fund ! 

Yet even this large adventure for converting the 
people of India — rather for difiufing Unitarianifm 
among the Englijh of Calcutta, fuch is the faft — 
did not efcape animadverfion as an improper diver- 
fion of the funds of the AlTociation from the field 
where they were more needed. And though the 
objector allowed, that, the Calcutta million, having 
been commenced, they were " bound to endeavour 
to make the beft of it," he was far from admitting, 
and none of the fpeakers affirmed, that Unitarians 
fhould think of entering boldly as competitors with 
the orthodox on the high courfe of foreign evan- 
gelization. And yet, why fhould they not do fo? 
What obftacle ftands between Unitarians and the 
great pagan world ? What, unlefs it be Unitarian 
indifference ? Why would it be imprudent to ori- 
ginate fome eight or ten millions to Africa, India, 
and the iflands of the Southern Sea, but becaufe it 
is utterly abfurd to fuppofe that any fuch aft of 
religious charity would be fupported or approved 



122 



essays, etc. 



by the Unitarian body ? It is a miffionary age, 
and the miffionary fpirit is allowed by Unitarians 
to be eminently proper to Chriftianity ; and yet 
Unitarians neither go forth to preach the Gofpel 
themfelves, nor do they fend others ! 

We are bound, however, to view this matter of 
foreign miffions as it is viewed by Unitarians ; 
and we learn from the higheft authority, that Uni- 
tarians, while calmly fitting at home in their empty 
chapels, are wont, with a benevolent eafinefs of 
feeling, to congratulate themfelves and their party 
on the fuccelTes of orthodox miffions ! How com- 
fortable a thing it is, if, while others are doing our 
work for us, we may fnore away in feed-time, fure 
as we are that our friends will give us the jog 
when the harveft is all ready to be houfed ! Now 
this, we learn, is precifely the pofition of Unita- 
rians at the prefent moment. The orthodox, in 
the intemperance of their fanatical zeal, are labour- 
ing to convert the world. Yes, but the Unita- 
rians, when the world (hall be everywhere con- 
verted, are to fill their garners with the fheaves ! 
Hear one of them : — u I fee multitudes doing our 
work, whilft they imagine they are a&ing againft 
us. They are preparing the way for that fimple 
fyftem of Chriftianity which we profefs." In the 
fame enviable temper of undaunted hope, the 
fpeaker goes on to comfort himfelf and his col- 
leagues as follows : — " When I fee numbers of 
churches building throughout the country, my firft 



UNIT AR I AN ISM IN ENGLAND. 123 

impreffion is, how error is fupported ! But when 
I look further, I confider that they are all building 
for us I" By the way, would it not be more 
feemly for Unitarians to talk of filling their own 
chapels now, than of filling orthodox churches a 
hundred years hence ? Meantime, and while com- 
pelled to confefs that by far the larger number of 
their places of affembly are fallen into a condition 
of "deplorable defolation," the announcement that 
"all the new churches" are building for Unita- 
rians, is likely to awaken grim fufpicions in the 
minds of ihrewd Unitarian laymen — men of the 
world. 

On another occafion the fame intelligent and 
eftimable man tells us that " thofe who have exa- 
mined the work of Mr. Ellis on the South Sea 
Iflands, the Polynefian Refearches^ may perceive 
that in them the principles of Unitarianifm are 
eflentially taught !" Let us liften to and digeft 
this affertion. As we muft not think of it as an 
inftance of fheer effrontery, it muft ftand as an 
example of enormous infatuation. What do we 
mean when we fpeak of a man's being driven to a 
miferable ftiift ? Something furely like this : — A 
leader of Unitarianifm is called upon to make an 
animating fpeech at a public dinner ; it comes in 
his way to allude to the miflions of the prefent 
day ; but thofe around him well know that Uni- 
tarians have nothing to do with thefe Chriftian 
enterprifes : what remains then for him to fay 



124 ESSAYS, ETC. 



about them ? Why this : that the preachers of 
the do£trine of the Trinity are " effentially teach- 
ing the fimple principles of Unitarianifm !" 

Such are the fads. Let them for a moment be 
viewed in that light in which they will appear to 
pofterity, on the fuppofition that Unitarianifm is 
Chriftianity. In that cafe it will ftand on the page 
of Church hiftory, for the aftonifhment and fcandal 
of all thoughtful minds — firft, that the fanatical 
and deluded profeffors of a corrupt and idolatrous 
creed were the men to originate, and perfeveringly 
to carry on, the truly Chriftian enterprife of turn- 
ing the nations from their fuperftitions ; and that 
in this enterprife they were confpicuoufly recog- 
nized and profpered by Heaven. And fecondly, it 
will appear, that the only Chriftians (fuch in a 
genuine fenfe) of this miffionary age, were alfo the 
only men who took no part in the work ; that of 
thefe " true Chriftians," the majority openly op- 
pofed the undertaking, " looking upon it with 
apathy or fcorn," and " meeting an application for 
aid with a fmile of aftonifhment ;" in fuch fort that 
the confeffion was wrung from the chiefs of the 
party, that u the fpirit of Unitarians" (the only 
Chriftians) " is not a mijjlonary fpirit" and that 
they are " fufficiently indifferent whether other 
men and nations partake of the bleffings of the 
Gofpel or not !" Thefe are the fafts which are 
even now going down to pofterity. Upon the 
unalterable page of hiftory it is even now being 



UNIT ARIANISM IN ENGLAND. 125 

written, that the attempt to propagate Chriftianity 
has been fcorned and denounced by the only men 
of the times who, according to their own account, 
poffefs the dodrine of Him that faid, " Go ye out 
into all the world, and preach the Gofpel !" 



SECTION V. 

TO infift at length upon the inference bearing 
againft the pretenfions of Unitarianifm, as 
furnifhed by this ftate of things, is not our imme- 
diate purpofe. But we fay, that the man upon 
whom the edge of that inference falls, is, if con- 
fcious of its force, one of the moft unhappy of his 
fpecies ; or, if not, he is one of the moft infatuated. 
We will take up the only two fuppofitions that the 
cafe admits of : either the Unitarian minifter is 
himfelf indifferent to the propagation of the Gofpel $ 
or being zealous for it, he finds himfelf one of a 
party that by none of his eloquence can be roufed 
to give him any aid. Take the firft of thefe fup- 
pofed cafes. It is true, that a layman, who has 
nothing to do with religion but to fit his hour once 
a week in his pew, may be very tranquil, and very 
well fatisfied with himfelf, even in the confciouf- 
nefs of an utter deftitution of Chriftian zeal ; but 
it can never be fo with a public functionary ; no- 



126 



ESSJrS, ETC. 



thing can render the weekly performance of reli- 
gious fervices before a fmall and lifelefs congre- 
gation, by one who is himfelf devoid of zeal, 
otherwife than infufferably burdenfome ; — nothing, 
or we ought to fay, nothing but large or fecure 
fecular advantages. For. the fake, or, to ufe a 
phrafe proper to a mercantile tranfa£iion, for the 
confederation of a thoufand per annum^ or of even 
two hundred pounds abfolutely unalienable, a man 
may courageoufly bear himfelf through the irkfome 
formalities of public worfhip. Not fo the needy 
man, who, if he difpleafe his employers, may be 
difcharged from his pulpit, and lofe his morfel of 
bread. To fuch a one, difheartened and anxious, 
the confcious want of religious zeal in himfelf, and 
the fight of the confpicuous inefficiency of his per- 
formance, will be enough to afflicl: him with an un- 
utterable difguft. And a tenfold force will belong 
to this inward mifgiving, in times like the prefent. 
We are not mifunderftanding the invariable prin- 
ciples of human nature, when we fay, that the 
zeal, and the difinterefted activity, and the felf- 
denying diligence, and the gladfome excitement, 
which are now ftirring among the better part of 
the clergy of all denominations (Unitarians ex- 
cepted) muft prefs as an adverfe power upon the 
felf-condemned heart of the man who feels him- 
felf alive to no kindred emotions, and who can take 
no part in all that is around him. We repeat it, 
that a minifter of religion, confcioufly deftitute of 



UNIT ARIANISM IN ENGLAND. 127 



zeal, who might have been contented, or at leaft 
tranquil, fifty years ago, can now do nothing but 
abhor the profeffion to which he finds himfelf tied. 

But let us look at the other fuppofition — the 
cafe of a Unitarian minifter, who, like the writer 
from whom we have made frequent quotations, 
feels, in all its force, the unqueftionable truth, that 
Chriftianity is effentially an invafive, expanfive 
dodlrine ; he confefTes that fomething, nay, much, 
muft be wrong in its profeffors, if their fpirit be 
not a miffionary fpirit ; he admits, that thofe (what- 
ever errors they may fall into) who are a&ually 
going forth to preach the Gofpel to the heathen, 
are moft happily, moft confidently, moft nobly 
employed ; he cannot but grant that, though fcoffed 
at by the fcoffers of their times, pofterity will do 
them juftice, and will call them the moft heroic of 
philanthropifts ; nay, that Heaven will confefs them 
as its fervants ; he would fain, fpite of the corrup- 
tions to which they adhere, take part with them 
in their labours : he fteps forward, but his compa- 
nionship is avoided ; (and it muft be fo.) Thofe 
who are zealoufly propagating the Gofpel of God, 
their Saviour, will fhrink with fear from conta£t 
with the impugner of its capital doctrines ; (they 
muft fo draw back.) Rejected, he turns towards 
the men of his party. He fees them affluent and 
well-informed ; but, alas ! utterly deftitute of any 
motive powerful enough to command labours, fuf- 
ferings, or contributions in the caufe of the Gofpel ; 



128 



ESSATS, ETC. 



or worfe than this, they are farcaftically hofHle to 
the c< vifionary and ufelefs crufade of the times." 
Scarcely one lay Unitarian in a hundred confeffes 
to be animated by a zeal like his own ; and nothing 
could be more prepofterous than to hope that the 
party at large fhould be moved to bring forward 
their twenty or fifty thoufand pounds yearly, for 
the fupport of a religious undertaking. What but 
an utter defpondency, what but an anguifh of for- 
row, can belong then, in this age of religious zeal, 
to the zealous Unitarian minifler ? What can be 
added to the difcomfort of his lot, unlefs it be the 
dark furmife which naturally fprings from the per- 
plexity of his pofition, and the faintnefs which that 
perplexity forces on his heart ? After all, mutt 
he be tempted to fay, is this Chriftianity, which 
proves itfelf to be potent only when it is corrupted, 
and which invariably becomes effete when it is 
pure is it worth the fpending of life, fortune, 
family welfare, talents, reputation, in its fervice ? 
Why occupy a life in attempting to purge the fe- 
culence of a fyftem, which, whenever it is tho- 
roughly purged, lies motionlefs as a corpfe r Does 
Heaven indeed demand fo large a facrifice to fo 
little purpofe — to no purpofe ? Racking and in- 
terminable queftions ! wretched condition of inex- 
tricable doubt ! Rather than endure it, it were 
better to plunge into the oblivious flood of uni- 
verfal fcepticifm. Purfue but a few fteps further 
the path of difbelief \ reject altogether this cum- 



UNIT ARIAN1SM IN ENGLAND. 129 



brous, fupernatural fcheme, and then, although 
perplexities enough may ftill hang in the way, they 
are no longer the peculiar burden of individuals. 
They darken, indeed, the path of humanity, but 
they do not reft as a reproach, and a fnare, and a 
curfe, upon a fingle head ; they are no longer the 
fcandal of him who, with lucklefs prefumption, has 
affumed office among men as the interpreter of God. 

We have now only to repeat what we have 
ventured to afErm, that, viewed on every fide, 
fecular, profeffional, and fpiritual, the lot of an 
Englifti Unitarian minifter is at this time pre-emi- 
nently undefirable ; and we affirm it fo to be on 
this ground, that he ftands in a falfe pofition, and 
is devoting life, intelligence, acquirements, and 
many eftimable and ferviceable qualities, to the 
hopelefs tafk of upholding a fcheme of religious 
do&rine which makes no way, and which, while 
it is too incoherent, as related to the Scriptures, to 
win the approval of the people at large, is too much 
entangled with the fupernatural to gain any favour 
with philofophical unbelievers. 

In this eflay we have fpoken of the ftate of 
Unitarianifm in England — fuch as it was thirty 
years ago. In another effay we propofe to inquire 
what changes itfelf has undergone in this lapfe of 
time, and what has now become its relative pofi- 
tion as compared with other religious communities, 
and with the national progrefs. 

K 




ESSAY III. 

JSfilus : — The Chrijiian Courtier in the Defert. 

REASURES, convertible to the pur- 
pofes of Chriftian edification, as well 
as of entertainment, are yet entombed 
in the folios of the patriftic litera- 
ture. But if it be fo, why have not thefe riches 
been made more generally available for the benefit 
of the Chriftian community of thefe times ? This 
is a queftion which it is natural and reafonable to 
afk, and for an anfwer to which we need not go 
far. The reader of this Eftay, for one, and the 
writer of it for another, may each of us find it in 
or among his own prepofteffions, his preoccupa- 
tions — whether theological or ecclefiaftical : or let 
now the reader and the writer be quite candid and 
confidential — for no one is liftening at the door ; it 
is in your prejudice, kind reader, perhaps, and in 
mine, that we muft look for the obftruction which 
fhuts us out from the enjoyment of an inheritance 
whereupon otherwife we might forthwith enter — 
an inheritance left to us by our predeceflbrs in the 
Chriftian life. 




NILUS. 



If, in opening the voluminous records and re- 
mains of the Chriftian life of the early ages, I feek 
to enhearten myfelf for a labour fo arduous as is 
implied in the perufal of this mals, by help of fome 
new-born zeal in behalf of this or that religious 
whim, or fuperftition, or fe&arian belief — if I do 
this, I {hall gather, as I go, the chaff— I mall leave 
untouched the precious grain. Affuredly there has 
been a genuine Chriftian life in each fucceflive age ; 
but it was not at all the life which I am pleafed to 
think of, and which I am looking for, and which 
I am refolved to find in my folios, whether it be 
there or not. It has been a life which was new 
to each age that has developed it for itfelf, but 
antiquated in relation to the following ages, each 
of which develops its own: it has been a life which 
we mould not prefume to call life, if we did not 
believe it to contain thofe fpiritual rudiments that 
are unchanging and eternal — that are the fame 
yefterday, and to-day, and for ever; — a life where- 
with we may well hold communion now, and into 
the heart of which we may fafely make our way ; 
yet on this one condition, that we put off, for a 
time, our polemical eagerneffes — that we lay afide 
our weapons and our jackets of iron, and enter, in 
a fubdued mood of mind, as if we were ftanding 
and trembling — one foot on the threfhold of that 
general affembly and univerfal concourfe of the 
faithful of all times which is gathered in prefence 
of the Judge of all. 



132 ESSAYS, ETC. 

Let then the reader give me his hand, in a kindly 
manner, for half an hour or fo, and I will do my 
beft to lead him right away into the midft of Chrif- 
tian life — fuch as it was in the fifth century. 

It is true that the materials before us, in this 
particular inftance, are not very ample ; but yet 
they are more fo than in many analogous inftances ; 
and what is better, they are more fpecific than are 
moft others, and (apparently) they are more genu- 
ine and truftworthy than moft. In opening them 
we are not offended by exaggerations and childilh 
abfurdities ; we are not invited to gaze at a puppet- 
fhow of wonders ; we have to do with ftieer hu- 
man nature — with its keen fenfibilities, with its 
vividnefs of feeling, as difplayed in times of hope 
and of fear, and all, powerfully moulded under the 
energies of a firm Chriftian belief. 

What we gather from his own extant writings, 
and from the brief notices of contemporary or later 
writers concerning the perfonal hiftory of Nilus, 
is foon reported ; it does not need to be condenfed. 

This good man, to whom we would not choofe 
to apply his conventional defignation, " the holy 
Father and Abbot, Nilus," is reported to have 
been of noble birth in Conftantinople, and to have 
occupied, as due to his pofition in fociety, a high 
place, opening to him the honours and wealth of 
public life and official dignity in the metropolis of 
the Eaftern Empire. And this pofition might be 
irrefpe£live of his perfonal qualifications for the 



NILUS. 133 

difcharge of its duties, or even of his individual 
wifhes or ambition. For a time he filled the 
place of Prefect of Conftantinople, but whether 
this was for years, or only for months, is not 
known ; yet it was a time long enough to con- 
firm in him the long-cheriftied purpofe to releafe 
himfelf from every fecular diffraction (if fuch a re- 
leafe might indeed at any price be obtained) and to 
follow the yearning of his foul toward the peace- 
giving enjoyments of the anchoretic life, far — far 
from the haunts of men. It was thus that, amidft 
the pomps and din of the metropolis of the Eaftern 
world, and the barbaric glitter of its court, and the 
revelries of its effeminate and voluptuous nobles, 
and, moreover, as furrounded by the revolting de- 
baucheries and the hypocrifiesof the religious orders 
of thofe times — it was as thus placed that he pic- 
tured to himfelf the heaven-like delights of the con- 
templative life — life in the defert — life properly 
fo called ; — the day fpent in the madow of a great 
rock ; by night, a fufficient fhelter from the dews 
of heaven found in a cleft or cavern of the fame, 
or in the cool receffes of an abandoned fepulchre ! 
Holy Scripture his only book and his conftant 
ftudy ; the companionftiip of fome like-minded with 
himfelf his folace ; his few bodily wants,how eafily 
ftiould they be provided for ! herbs, and a morfel 
of the coarfeft bread, how content ftiould he be 
with fuch fare ! and how well pleafed thus to dine, 
and thus to bring himfelf quite near to the incor- 



*34 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



poreal liberty of angelic exiftences ! Who, or who 
that is wife, would not choofe, nay, would not ear- 
neftly covet, the lot of thofe who thus pafs the ap- 
pointed days of their fojourningon earth, and thus 
breathe an untainted atmofphere, and :hus make 
the clear vault of heaven their roofing by day and 
by night ? How much better were this, than to fit 
long hours, naufeating the fumptuous dainties of 
royal banquets, in the imprifonment of imperial 
halls and of hollow ceremonies — a gueft in thole 
halls, enchained by the falfe and irkfome ufages of 
rank and office ; loving no one ; juftly fufpicious 
of every one; loved by none; envied by all— might 
not a wife and Chriftianly-minded man think the 
tranquil lot of the life-long captive in the imperial 
dungeon beneath his feet a happier lot ? True it is 
that the perifhing and defpicable body of the pri- 
foner is enchained ; but then the fpirit, how free 
may it be ! The heart is at eafe, or maybe fo; the 
tongue alfo is enchained, entombed in that pit ; 
prayer and praife may arife, where none are at hand 
to rebuke thefe utterances of the foul fent heaven- 
ward with a force that penetrates the maffive vault ! 

Yes ! the prifoner in the dungeon, far down be- 
neath the marbled pavements of the palace, may be 
envied by him who paces it, laden with the baubles 
of that falfe exiftence to which he is bound. But 
in truth there is no neceffity for making; a choice 
in an alternative fo extreme as this ; conditions far 
lefs fevere, are they not at my option ? Liberty 



NILUS. 



i35 



and life, and the near neighbourhood of the unfeen 
world, may they not be found and enjoyed in the 
defert ? Shall I not then haften thither ? Why 
poftpone this felicity a day ? At fome fpot in the 
depths of thofe holy folitudes where the Eternal 
Majefty awhile ago held converfe with His chofen 
fervants, there will I feek, and there (hall I find 
that peace which the world denies, and which, in- 
deed, it has no power to beftow — and does not 
beftow, even for an hour. So it came about that 
the courtier, the magiftrate, refolved to fpend his 
refidue of days — in the wildernefs. 

Neverthelefs, in the way of this refolve there 
ftood oppofed obligations which he dared not ab- 
ruptly violate. He muft difengage himfelf from 
them by aid of that fort of flow and pain-giving 
procefs which we inflict upon ourfelves when it 
happens that the gratification of fome wifh or tafte 
which, abftractedly confidered, we believe to be 
lawful, or even commendable, is forbidden us by 
homely reafons of duty and of Chriftian virtue. The 
wifh, the whim, the tafte, crouches, on fuch occa- 
fions, within the foul, filent and motionlefs, affured 
as it is that it fhall not in the end be thwarted fure 
as is the beaft of prey of its victim, feen to be now 
trembling at the cave's mouth. But there muft 
firft take place, and with a fair femblance of honeft 
reality, an outfide parley with the unwelcome re- 
monftrances of duty — with the outcry of nature, 
and with the plain meaning of the Divine law, — 



136 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



fo it was with this Chriftian man at this crifis of 
his life. 

Nilus had a home, as well as a feat among 
princes ; he was a hufband and a father. A wife, 
a fon, and a daughter* are not to be thrown off as 
eafily, or with as little compun&ion, as what he 
would feel in laying afide his robes of office. Him- 
felf and his wife were at this time ftill in mid-age 
— fo we muft infer from the terms which he em- 
ploys in excufing to himfelf the refolution he had 
formed. The feparation, he fays, was now me- 
ritorious—it was an a£t worthy of the Chriftian 
athlete ; but if it were much longer delayed, what 
praife could it then deferve ? The refolve was 
therefore formed ; and how to carry it out with 
the leaft poffible expenditure of fruitlefs feeling was 
the only queftion. For this purpofe he affumes an 
afpedt of immovable fixednefs ; his words are few; 
his tones are thofe with which he might have been 
ufed to pronounce fentence of death upon one from 
whom he would, mercifully, cut off all hope of par- 
don. He takes his children by the hand (the fon a 
youth juft rifing from boyhood), he commends the 
daughter to her mother's care, and then announces 
his purpofe to depart with the youth for the Ara- 
bian wildernefs : — a ftern purpofe, refolutely ac- 
complished. How far it was wifely done it is not 



* A daughter : we muft fo read the text, and not two 
Jons. The narrative demands this verfion. 



NILUS. 



now in thefe pages our bufinefs to inquire. Yet it 
was not done in apathy on the fide of the hufband, 
for he was a man of keen fenfibility, as appears 
from the narrative ; much lefs was it fubmitted to 
on the part of the wronged wife and mother with 
indifference. In this inftance we hear of no plea 
of " incompatibility of temper," which might ferve 
to gloze an immoral a£t, and to render the parties 
more than acquiefcent in the feparation. If the 
hufband felt what a man feels who undergoes am- 
putation, the wife yields to the iron refolve of the 
hufband, and gives him, in floods of tears, her 
formal acquiefcence, without which the Church of 
thofe times would not have Sanctioned the a£t; and 
me fmothers her fruitlefs forrows, and hides her 
enforced widowhood, with her daughter, in an 
Egyptian convent. 

But now we remind ourfelves of our intention 
in this efTay — which is not that of holding up to 
warrantable reprehenfion the miftaken notions, the 
fallacious reafonings, the dangerous, though fpecious 
practices of an age gone by. This we do not mean 
to do ; we take the things which we find, whether 
they be altogether approvable or not fo, and we 
look at them in kindly mood, much as we are ac- 
cuftomed now to think and to fpeak of the whims 
and the ftrange notions of fome eftimable Chriftian 
friend of whom we are wont to fay, " I quite dis- 
allow my friend's notions, and I fmile at his pecu- 
liarities ; but when I have faid this, and I muft fay 



138 ESSATS, ETC. 

it, then I will acknowledge that I often admire, 
and would gladly imitate, his lofty and yet lowly 
Chriftian temper, his elevation of fpirit, his felf- 
denial, his finglenefs of purpofe, his labours of 
charity." 

Thus it is, then, that we now make acquain- 
tance with our anchoret — once a magiftrate and 
prince. To revert, for a moment, to the initial zSt 
of his afcetic courfe — this feparation from his wife. 
It mould firft be mentioned that, according to the 
notions and the ufages of the Church of thofe 
times, this was the inevitable condition of entering 
upon the u religious life," either in the anchoretic, 
or the conventual mode — a final ceflation of con- 
jugal intercourfe, a renunciation of the domeftic 
exiftence muft be made, or there could be no upper 
clafs Chriftian exiftence. This being underftood, 
then let us turn afide for a moment, and make 
fearch, in our own hearts, for thofe motives which 
might, in that age, or indeed in any other, but efpe- 
cially in that age, prompt a purpofe of feparation. 
Our hypothefis in this inftance is this — that it is 
not a cafe of apathy, or of mutual wearinefs, or of 
" incompatibility of temper," but of vivid fenfibility 
and fincere affe&ion, tender and warm on both 
fides. This is our hypothefis ; and then our prin- 
ciple is an uncompromifing difapproval of any fuch 
diflblution or abrogation of the conjugal union ; 
thofe reafons — if there be any, by which it might 
be made to appear in any cafe warrantable, muft be 



NILUS. 



*39 



peculiar indeed ; and the exceptive inftances muft 
be fo rare as to excufe our taking account of them. 

The one bright fpot on the broad furface of the 
human fyftem — that illuminated area outfide of 
which, in all directions, things are only in different 
degrees fombre — is that home circle within which 
reign love and duty — conjugal, parental, filial ; — and 
thefe, blefled, as they may be, by the influence of 
a vivid and genuine Chriftian faith. Thus bleffed 
and thus ruled alfo, the domeftic life yields a clearer 
and more convincing evidence of the Divine benig- 
nity than could elfe where be found, though we were 
to fearch the upper heavens for a better inftance. 

But now let another, and yet not a contrary, 
deep truth be admitted — for it could avail us no- 
thing to "cloke or diffemble" what cannot be de- 
nied : our other truth is this — that the life feen and 
temporal, and the life eternal are at a jar, and that 
this jar — this misfitting, makes itfelf felt mo ft fen- 
fibly juft when each is at its higheft pitch of per- 
fection in its own fenfe. Abate each of thefe in- 
tenfities a little — bring down each to a mean level 
— a degree or two below the "fettled fine" to 
which each afpires to rife — and then the jar is 
fcarcely felt; there is then little or no confciouf- 
nefs of it in thofe concerned. What we fhould 
mean in faying this might otherwife be worded. 
Take the inftance of a hufband and a wife, each 
of them affectionate, amiable, wife in temper, and 
difcreet in behaviour ; but of a rate of fenfibility 



140 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



lefs than the higheft, a devotednefs of the heart lefs 
than the moft abfolute, a depth of foul that is lefs 
deep than an abyfs. Take, at the fame time, a rate 
of religious feeling which, in about the fame pro- 
portion, is abated or tempered ; and tben^ when 
the life of the prefent life is ruled and fanftified by 
the motives and the beliefs of the life eternal, the 
product is an equal meafure of love and harmony ; 
earth and heaven are feemingly all at one ; human 
affections are raifed and purified ; and the divine 
life is exhibited in a form that is approvable, and 
attractive, and edifying. 

Why then mould we defire anything more than 
this ? Why mould we not ftop fhort where the fub- 
ftance of a tranquil happinefs may be found ? This 
is not a queftion that need ever be anfwered, for it 
is one that will never be pointedly advanced, ex- 
cept in thofe inftances that, in truth, admit of no 
anfwer applicable to the cafe. Let the fenfibilities 
be as acute and as profound as fometimes they are ; 
and let the conjugal love embrace the entire exift- 
ence of each, and let it be fuch as touches the 
fprings of the moral life ; and then add to our fup- 
pofition this countervailing element, namely, an 
equal intenfity of the religious affections — even 
fuch an intenfity as is daily urging the foul onward 
toward a fruition of the Divine favour; the powers 
of the life eternal are fo ftriving within the foul, as 
at times would feem to render the moft coftly facri- 
fice of earthly felicity — yes, the choiceft felicity — 



NILUS. 



not merely tolerable, but, may we not fay fo, a 
facrifice, ananguifh, to be wifhed for ! 

Now then we have in view an intelligible folia- 
tion of what might appear to be a moral paradox. 
That the felfim,the crabbed in temper, mould eafily 
reconcile themfelves to the pain of a parting, and 
that fuch alfo fhould do fo who have been trained 
under a religious fyftem which attributes a falfe 
merit to the act, or that fuch alfo mould do fo who 
live under fome modern difpenfation of contempt 
for the law of God — thefe cafes are not perplexing. 
But can we underftand thofe other inftances in 
which the moft intenfe and genuine affections have 
been voluntarily rent in two by forces that mow 
themfelves to be ftill more intimate ? We feem to 
catch a glimpfe of a ftate of feeling at the impulfe 
of which a rending like this might actually take 
place, as a voluntary act. 

The apoftolic rule, with its implied reafons and 
its limitations ( i Cor. vii. 5) clearly recognizes, and 
it allows as warrantable, a feeling which, if we only 
fuppofe it to become much enhanced, might bring 
us to a ftate of mind fuch as we have now ima- 
gined. That it adtually exifted in force, and that 
it did iffue in the final feparation of loving huf- 
bands and wives, is a fact of which the evidences 
are many, occurring upon the pages of the afcetic 
biographies, as well ancient as modern. It is more 
than I would venture to affirm that our Nilus was 
a loving hufband of this order ; but we mould gather 



142 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



furely 3 from the language of his narrative, the be- 
lief that his injured wife was indeed a loving wife, 
whofe keen affections ought to have been refpedted. 

Fully to underftand cafes of this fort, of which 
fo many prefent themfelves in the patriftic and in 
the Romifti devotional writings, we muft carry 
ourfelves back to the fame times, and endeavour 
to realize the moral and religious views and mo- 
tives of that dim tranfition period. The healthful, 
the practicable Chriftian morality of the apoftolic 
writings had, at an early time — as early, certainly, 
as the end of the fecond century — blended itfelf 
with the fpurious oriental do£lrine, with its unna- 
tural refinements and its lurid theory of the world, 
and with its diftorted notions of every reality of 
human exiftence. This mixture, poifonous in its 
qualities, and fatal as it was to the fpiritual health 
of thofe who received it, affected moft directly the 
upper and the educated orders within the Chriftian 
community. It was the Chriftian gentleman, fuch 
as our Nilus, and the Chriftian lady, fuch as were 
many " noble women" of the fame age, that had 
wandered beneath the fhadow of the Oriental Phi- 
lofophy, and that, while pleafing themfelves in that 
dimnefs, loft the ruddy health of better times, and 
had become pallid, and the prey of whims. 

Feelings, and refinements of feeling, which even 
we — the better taught Chriftian men and women 
of thefe times, may at leaft recognize and under- 
ftand, how vivid might they become when they 



NILUS. 



were favoured by the opinions, the feelings, and 
the ufages that were on every fide prevalent in the 
fourth and the fifth centuries ! Moreover, there 
is a peculiarity ofthofe ages which fhould be well 
kept in view, and it is this — that the companion- 
able equality of the fexes, which is the proper fruit 
of the Chriftian morality, and which is a principal 
element of our modern European civilization, had 
little or no place in the ancient and the Greek ci- 
vilization. No doubt it would have followed in 
the track of Chriftianity, had not the courfe of 
things been turned afide by the incoming of the 
afcetic doctrine, and by its pernicious ufages. This 
purifying Chriftian influence was in fact counter- 
acted at a very early time, and confequently (if very 
rare inftances have been allowed for) the Chrif- 
tian hufband did not think of finding a Chriftian 
friend, and an advifer, and a help in his wife. The 
believing wife, on her part, expected no corre- 
fponding aid from her hufband ; but inftead of any 
fuch healing and fanctifying mutuality in the reli- 
gious life, the two, although both of them believers, 
were taught to regard each other, not indeed as 
enemies^ but as hinderers of each other's progrefs 
on the arduous path of Chriftian perfection. The 
next ftep, where feelings of this kind exifted, it 
was not fo difficult to take, as, to us of this time, 
it may feem. Such hufbands and fuch wives might 
foon come to perfuade themfelves that they were 
acting meritorioully when they faid, " It is true 



144 



ESSATS, ETC. 



that, according to the Divine inftitution, we are 
one ; but this inftitution itfelf is fuch that it needs 
apology, and, in fa£t, do we not feel ourfelves to 
be — in aloftyandfpiritual fenfe — antagonifts rather 
than helpers ? Let us then feparate, and each, fingly 
and unencumbered, henceforth tread that rugged 
path which leads heavenward. Farewell ! till we 
meet where all {hall be as the angels of God." 

If the injured wife and mother, in the inftance 
before us, had defired revenge, which her filent 
tears forbid us to fuppofe, fhe might fpeedily have 
found it; or found it, if indeed the ftory of the 
fufferings of her huftband and fon in the wildernefs 
had reached her in the cloifter where me hid her 
life-long grief. Nilus, as it feemed, had too eafily 
perfuaded himfelf that the contemplative life, which 
he found to be impracticable in the imperial city, 
might at once and certainly be enjoyed in or among 
the recefles of Sinai. He fhould have informed 
himfelf better of the Hate of things in the penin- 
fula ; he mould have confuked, if not a " Hand- 
book of the Defert," yet fome of thofe lay perfons, 
merchants, or military men, whofe views of things 
were uncoloured and truthful. It was not fo, as we 
muft fuppofe ; on the contrary, he had converfed 
— enraptured, with holy monks lately returned 
from the Holy Places, and who defcribed to him 
cc life in the defert" in all its purity, fimplicity, and 
cerulean tranquillity; a life howblelTed, hownearly 
neighbouring upon heaven, how ardently to be de- 



NILUS. 145 

fired, and how cheaply purchafed, although it mould 
be at the price of wealth, honours, and every tie of 
earthly relationfhip ! fo he thought; and thus ac- 
cordingly he a£r.ed. 

The holy men of the wildernefs, efpecially thofe 
frequenting the Sinaitic Peninfular, congregated 
themfelves fo far as this, that they conftrucled their 
huts — each one for himfelf, within the diftance of 
a few paces from thofe next adjoining. Their time 
through the week they fpent in folitude, but they 
were wont to affemble on the Sunday within the 
walls of a church — a building fufficient in its gar- 
niture for the celebration of divine fervice. Hav- 
ing feledled a fpot where a fpring fecured for them 
a fufficient fupply of water round the year, they, or 
fome of them, confl:ru6led huts of fuch materials 
as might be collected in the defert — fragments of 
rock, and the long grafs or reeds found at fpots in 
the wadys. Others betook themfelves — and per- 
haps they made the wifer choice, to the natural 
caverns of the mountains, within which a better 
defence againft winds and rains might be found, 
and a more fafe retreat when the enemy was abroad. 
Some of thefe clefts of the Sinaitic region offered 
a more even temperature, rummer and winter, day 
and night, than could be found in the moft fub- 
ftantial buildings, and which, perhaps, are fuch as 
might even now tempt a traveller to make an ex- 
periment of — life in the wildernefs — for a few days, 
at lead. 

L 



146 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



There is much uniformity in thofe defcriptions 
of the anchoretic life which meet us in the patriftic 
records. Yet there are differences. The hermits 
of the Upper Nile— the emaciated tenants of the 
fepulchres which honeycomb its rocky banks — 
had many of them become fcarcely human in their 
ftyle and behaviour ; and albeit they were chris- 
tianized, profeffedly, yet were they the genuine 
fucceflbrs and reprefentatives of a fakir race that 
might boaft a very high antiquity. Some, perhaps 
many, of the anchorets of Upper Egypt were piti- 
able beings, who, at moments when perfecution 
raged in cities, confcious of their inability to ftand 
the fiery trial, had fled, and had fought fafety where 
alone, at that time, it might be found, Some, and 
more than a few of them, were in this plight ; — 
they had loft or broken every focial tie ; they were 
outcafts, perhaps outlaws, and they were glad to 
hide their miferies in a fepulchre. 

But if, turning hence, we choofe to roam along 
the mores of the Euxine, and if we ftop where a 
wooded amphitheatre, with its watered dopes — 
gay and fragrant with flowers, might tempt princes 
from their palaces — if in fuch a natural paradife 
we make fearch for the holy anchoret — the tafteful 
and luxurious intelle&ualift — theBafilof the fourth 
century — and if there we find him, we (hall come 
to queftion the propriety of applying one term, or 
one fet of terms, to modes of exiftence that, in 
almoft every fenfe, are the contraries, the one of 
the other. 



NILVS. 147 

The anchoretic life affumed a middle afpect 
throughout thofe countries which in fact lie mid- 
way between the regions we have named. Monaf- 
ticifm, fuch as we may gather an idea of it from the 
pages of Ephrem Syrus, or from the perfonal re- 
ferences to it occurring in the writings of the great 
theologue of Bethlehem, Jerome, was compara- 
tively a reafonable fcheme of religious, or of lite- 
rary retirement — more regardful of the ends of a 
fecluded and abftemious courfe, than ambitious of 
repute on behalf of incredible aufterities. 

Men who fought fomething more extreme, more 
fatisfying to a romantic turn than they could find 
in the monafteries or the hermitages of Syria and 
Paleftine, moved further on toward the Arabian 
defert, or they boldly ftruck into the heart of it. So 
did our Conftantinopolitan courtier. The terrific 
grandeur of the fcenery, furpaffed by no Alpine 
area in the world, together with its facred hiftoric 
affociations, were of that kind which well combine 
themfelves with emotions of religious awe and 
wonder, and efpecially with that powerful — that all- 
powerful impulfe of the human mind, to draw it- 
felf up toward any point fuppofed to be near to the 
world eternal and invifible. Paleftine muft yield 
to Sinai in the efteem of thofe who thus yearn to 
live, as near as may be poffible while in the flefh, 
to the fplendours and to the terrors of the world 
upon which we are to enter, at the moment when 
the flefh returns to its earth. 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



There were anchoretic communities located 
upon the narrow areas, and within the wadys of 
the Sinaitic region; but there were alio fome of 
the folitaries who, either for the fake of a more 
entire feclufion, or perhaps of greater fecurity as 
toward the Bedouin freebooters, lodged themfelves 
in caves or crevices of the holy mountain. It 
feems that Nilus and his fon Theodulus had 
taken this courfe, and had become tenants of a 
nook, high up on the fide of the hill. We maybe 
allowed to conjecture that, in removing himfelf 
from the refources and amenities of civilization, he 
had referved to himfelf funds or ftores fufficient 
for at leaft fome months of the experiment in this 
new exiftence. The tender paternal feeling, of 
which the narrative gives evidence, would impel 
the father to provide againft the death of this deli- 
cate youth, as well as of himfelf, by abfolute ftar- 
vation. 

As to thofe who conftituted the monadic com- 
munity below, their mode of life or manner of ex- 
iftence was nearly the fame as that of which we 
meet defcriptions everywhere in the patriftic writ- 
ings. A few of thefe reclufes — and it was a few 
only, did not think themfelves bound to efchew 
the ufe of bread (or of wheaten cakes unleavened) ; 
thefe therefore, furnimed with a rude hoe, and 
appropriating to themfelves a few fquare yards of 
the arid furface^ found it poffible to raife a crop 
fufficient, each, for his confumption through the 



NILUS. 149 

winter months : during the fummer the fponta- 
neous products of the delert were available and fuf- 
ficient. 

As to the more fternly purpofed of the brethren, 
thev condemned, as to themielves at leaft, the 
grain upon which cooks and confectioners expend 
their (kill for the pampering of gluttonous appetites. 
Men of this clafs — or, as they were called, the ath- 
letic afpirants to the " angelic" ftyle of exiftence 
— thefe roamed through the wadys, gathering ber- 
ries, or fearching for efculent roots ; fubfifting each 
day upon fuch as were perifhable, and collecting a 
ftore of fuch as might be dried and preferved. So 
it was, as always it is, that thole who aim at ex- 
travagances for confcience fake, are, by fheer force 
of nature, driven into fhifts of LnconfiftencVi It 
is certain that to collect and to dry, and to make 
a ftore of acrid berries, is nothing elfe than a vio- 
lation of the caution, " Lay not up for vourfelves 
treafures upon earth; 3 ' or it is fo if, indeed, the 
ftoring of wheat in a barn is a violation of that 
precept. Yet we are now intending to look at the 
eremitic life not critically, but in a kindly temper. 
It mould be added that (fo we are allured) fome 
of thefe folitaries took food only on Sunday; others, 
twice or three times in the week ; the more feeble, 

once in the twentv-four hours. 

j 

Thus thought of, we may eafily believe, as to 
life in the defert — free and cheaply purchafed, and 
enacted under an Arabian fky, that it might eagerly 



150 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



be taken to, even by multitudes from among our 
denfe populations (if only it were near at hand) as 
moft defirable, when the alternative is the fqualor, 
and the hideous conditions, and the crufhing cares 
of an attic or a cellar in London or Glafgow. 
Add to the attractions of defert life— to its liberty 
and its exhilarating atmofphere, a vivid belief of 
the life eternal — its nearnefs, its certainty, its fplen- 
dours, its rewards, its triumphs over cruel perfe- 
cutors and over Satan and his hofts ; and give alfo 
to the eremite that which mojt of them poflefled in 
the fourth and fifth centuries — portions of holy 
Scripture either in hand or in memory — give him 
thefe good things, and thefe folaces, thefe indul- 
gences — and muft we not admit that his lot is fuch 
as many of ourfelves might think enviable ? 

The Arabian defert, then as now, and as at all 
times within the hiftoric period, was claimed as 
their own by the lawlefs tribes whofe hands are 
againft every man, and who fubfift by the fword, 
and not either by the plough or the bow. In the 
narrative before us we find the Bedouin of the 
fifth century depicted, in outline and in colouring, 
the fame being as ever ; the difference between 
the ancient and the modern marauder being that 
which has refulted from his abandonment of his 
primeval and fanguinary idolatry, and his acceptance 
of the faith and the ufages of Mahomet's inftitute. 
Thefe tribes, at times anterior to their converfion, 
and to the confequent fuperinduction of a loftier 



NILUS. 



fanaticifm than that known to their fathers, were 
no doubt more ferocious — probably much more fo> 
than they are at prefent. 

Yet even in thofe earlier times the Arabian 
tribes yielded themfelves to the control of confti- 
tuted powers, and their fheiks were able, on their 
behalf, to enter into treaties of peace with the 
bordering authorities of the Eaftern Empire. Un- 
conquered and unconquerable, they neverthelefs 
recognized the neighbouring ftates, which, within 
their proper region, they fet at defiance. It ap- 
pears, moreover, that the monaftic eftablifhments 
exifting within the bounds of the defert, fuch as 
thofe in the peninfula of Sinai, had come to act in 
fome mode of ufeful intervention or mediation be- 
tween the European and the Arabian populations. 
On the ground of this mediation, the chiefs pledged 
themfelves to the monks for their fecure abode in 
the wildernefs. Thefe treaties were however vio- 
lated at times, efpecially when a tribe or gang, 
preffed by want, furmifed that the monks had ac- 
cumulated a larger amount of winter ftores than 
ufual. 

Such feems to have been the ftate of things at 
the moment when Nilus introduces us to the in- 
cidents of his life in the defert. This moment was 
foon after (we do not know how foon after) the 
time of his entering upon it with his Ton. 

Nilus, with his fon in hand, had defcended from 
his retreat on the lofty flanks of the mountain, in- 



152 



ESSATS, ETC. 



tending to pafs fome time, according to his cuftom, 
among the brethren, whofe fettlement occupied a 
watered gorge beneath. Suddenly, like a thunder- 
ftorm, and without warning, down came rufhing 
upon them a band of thefe lawlefs Arabs. It was 
at the early dawn, and the holy brethren had juft 
concluded the morning fervice ; — the laft notes of 
the hymn of praife had died away. Like famifhing 
favage animals, thefe barbarians fought for, found, 
and feized, the whole of the ftores of food which 
the brethren had laid up for the approaching win- 
ter. This treafure fecured, the ruffians dragged 
the fathers forth from the church, {tripped, and 
driven like fheep to the flaughter. The fenior of 
the fraternity only, or two or three others, then 
met their death, giving to the others an example 
of meek refignation in the endurance of the moil 
favage treatment from thefe barbarians. 

Thofe of the monks who efcaped death hid 
themfelves among the rocks : fome were led off 
prifoners ; and among thefe was Theodulus, the 
young fon of Nilus. He himfelf, as he candidly 
tells us, made his efcape. A prefentiment of cala- 
mity or death had come upon the fenior prefbyter, 
who, the evening before this fatal day, when in- 
viting his brethren to their repair, had, with more 
than his ufual fuavity, addrefTed them in this way : 
— " How do we know that this may not be the 
laft time of our all thus afTembling around the 
fame table ?" 



NILUS. 153 

Nilus, we fay, had contrived to efcape from 
this daughter. A rugged path, uniifed, and which 
was held facred, led up from this lower ground to 
the heights of the holy mountain. By this way 
fome of the monks, and he among them, had 
fought fafety. But how was it that he could thus 
abandon his fon,whom he faw bound and led away, 
and deftined to he knew not what terrible fate — a 
fate worfe than death ? The father's explanation of 
the conflict between his perfonal fears, the inftinc- 
tive love of life, and the impulfes of parental affec- 
tion, does not ferve to bring him into view as a 
hero. We muff underftand him as meaning that 

his too haftv feet ran awav with the reluctant 
j j 

body and the better mind, carrying the entire man 
in the direction of fafety ! Thofe who break them- 
felves away from the ordinary trials of life at the 
impulfe of their perfonal taftes, and for realizing 
fome romantic conception of unearthly felicity, are 
very likely to fail on the fir ft occafion that makes 
a fudden demand upon their manly courage, and 
their willingnefs to fuffer for the refcue of others. 
It was no want of fenfibility or of affection, in this 
good man; but there had been a mifcalculation of 
his own moral forces, which had led him into a 
pofition in which he failed to do his part. In pur- 
fuit of the dream of a hermit's tranquil life, he had 
rent the ties of natural affection towards a wife and 
a daughter ; but here, in the hour of danger, he 
runs for his life — he fcrambles up a precipitous 



154 



essjts, etc. 



afcent, while at each turn of the path he looks 
back, and thence catches a laft glance of his fon, 
who is led off* by lavages ! 

When at length thefe bandits had retired with 
their booty and their captives, and all was again 
filent and fafe in the gloomy wady, the furviving 
brethren defcended from the craggy heights, and 
haftened — it was before dawn of the next morning 
— to perform the laft offices to the flain. All but 
one — the fenior of the fraternity, had been a long 
while dead; but he was ftill confcious, and, it is 
faid, he was able to addrefs to his brethren the quan- 
tity of a paragraph, or more, of fcriptural confola- 
tion. Let us not imagine, faid he, that fome ftrange 
thing had happened to himfelf and to them. It 
was the way with Satan thus to afk of God that 
the faithful mould be given into his hand for un- 
dergoing an extremity of trial. Think of Job ; 
and think of the exceeding great reward which 
God has in ftore for recompenfing the virtue of 
his faithful fervants. Thus having fpoken, the 
old man killed his brethren, and breathed out his 
fpirit. While it was ftill dark, he and the others 
were committed to the earth. 

The brethren were ftill on the fpot, conferring 
one with another, when a youth, running breath- 
lefs, and in extreme agitation, came up. Fie had 
been carried away with the fon of Nilus, and with 
him had been doomed to die that very morning. 
Both were to be llaughtered as victims offered, by 



NILUS. 



r 5S 



the barbarians, to their obfcene divinity : he had 
got the knowledge of their intention — he had feen 
the horrid preparations which they had already 
completed — the altar and the fagots. " Unlefs," 
faid he to his companion, " unlefs we can effect 
our efcape inftantly, we neither of us fhall fee the 
light of another day." For himfelf, he had refolved 
to attempt it; not fo his fellow-prifoner, Theo- 
dulus, who, more overcome with bodily fear, and 
better fuftained, perhaps, by religious motives, de- 
termined to await his fate, let it be what it might. 
The other, feeing that the favages were now loft 
in fleep, after their drunken revels, flipt away, 
crawling out beyond the bounds of the encamp- 
ment, and then ftarting up — his heels winged with 
terrors, he had reached the place where now they 
met. How often have a man's pair of heels— fo 
thought this youth — done him a better fervice in 
an extremity than a legion of guards could have 
rendered ! 

The narrative which follows, and the defcrip- 
tion of the truculent doings of the barbarians of 
the defert, and the patience in fuffering, and the 
joy in death of hermits, old and young — thefe ad- 
ventures are befide our prefent purpofe. But whe- 
ther thefe narrations may be taken as authentically 
given or not, the defcriptions which occur in them 
of the defert fcenery are quite true to fact, and the 
incidents alfo are highly characteristic, as well of 
the region itfelf, as of the marauding Bedouin man- 



i 5 6 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



ners ; only that the wild Arab of that age was no 
doubt a more favage and fanguinary creature than 
are his defcendants of the prefent time. For not 
only has the prophet of Mecca humanized, to a 
great extent, the rude men of the wildernefs, but 
their relations with furrounding governments have 
become more intimate, and have had the fame 
tendency. 

The inftances are not of infrequent occurrence 
in the afcetic biographies, of thofe who, in meeting 
a violent death, fuddenly, and at an early age, drew 
comfort and courage too from this fource, namely, 
that thus dying, and then dying, the athletic expe- 
riment was with them broken off at an aufpicious 
moment. " Death," fays a young martyr, " finds 
me with my vows unbroken, and my virtue fafe, 
and my title to a heavenly inheritance not forfeited. 
That eternal reward for the fake of which, and to 
earn which, I have endured years of hardmip, and 
have inflicted upon myfelf fo much fuffering, mall 
all be mine ! yes, it is mine ; and now I go to claim 
it." A feeling like this is indicated in an inftance 
which here occurs, and elfewhere we find it more 
fully expreffed. Let us fay that our modern and 
our Proteftant theology is offended by this lan- 
guage ; but let us admit, alfo, that a life of felf- 
denial and an early death, welcomed on the ground 
of a full faith in things " unfeen and eternal," even 
though it may involve fome doctrinal mifapprehen- 
fions, mould be tenderly rebuked by thofe whofe 



NILUS. 157 

own difpofitions, and whofe ftyle of difcourfe, and 
whofe modes of life give a very ambiguous evi- 
dence as to the firmnefs or the fincerity of their 
belief of a heaven to come. 

The diftrafted father, informed, to this extent — 
but not fully inftrudted as to the fate of his Theo- 
dulus, who was in the hands, and at the mercy of 
favage men, if not already — which, indeed, was 
the better fuppofition — flaughtered, gave utterance 
to the tortures of his heart in loud wailings. He 
allowed himfelf to imagine all kinds of horrors 
that might have attended the laft hours of the 
youth ; or in thinking of him — a tenderly trained 
boy as he was, as now vainly ftriving to obey the 
unreafonable commands of a ruthlefs mafter ; — he 
is buffeted, he is torn with the lam, he is cut and 
maimed ; at this very moment how might he be 
uttering fruitlefs cries, and pleading for mercy 
with thofe who knew of none ! 

In the midft of thefe lamentations — tearlefs, for 
he could not weep — Nilus was at once filenced, 
and was put to mame, by the more mafculine, and, 
as he thought, the more Chriftian-like behaviour 
and language of a woman ! The incident, even 
although we mould ftrip the narrative of its the- 
atrical and rhetorical decorations, is quite charac- 
teriftic of the times with which juft now we are 
converfant ; and in truth, even in its tone of ex- 
aggeration, it brings before us a very fignificant 
point of difference between the Chriftian feeling of 



i 5 8 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



the fifth century and that of the nineteenth. With 
us, of this time, the vivid belief of " an inheritance 
incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading — referved in 
heaven, " has become commingled in all poffible 
modes of indefinite fpeculation, and of iterated 
formalifm, and of unmeaning fentimentality, with 
that utter non-belief in any fuch futurity which 
we find around us. Who mall fay, even as to his 
own habitual ftates of mind, when he looks beyond 
the laft hours of his earthly courfe — who (hall fay 
how far the atheiftic indifference of thofe with 
whom, through life, he has been converfing daily, 
has availed to thicken that cloud which the eye of 
faith would penetrate ? 

It was not fo— it was far otherwife with our 
Chriftian predeceflbrs of the early ages. With 
them — or with thofe of them who were fincere, 
fimple-hearted, and devout— with fuch perfons,the 
hope of the Gofpel — the hope of a blifsful refurrec- 
tion of the body — the well-defined immortality 
that had fo lately been brought to light by Chrift 
(or had been brought to the light) held its entire- 
nefs — its clear and palpable integrity, free from all 
abatements, from all admixtures with contrary doc- 
trines or beliefs. That which the believers of thofe 
early times faw ranged in oppofition to the Chrif- 
tian idea and hope of the life eternal — that which 
the believing men, and women, and children of 
thofe ages looked at as confronting them — the hoft 
that mantled the mount Ebal of that age — was the 



NILUS. 



J 59 



foul and the foolifh paganifm of the bygone ages 
of ignorance. It was therefore, as aided by a con- 
traft fo forcible as this, and fo unambiguous, that 
the Chriftian confeffors of the martyr times met 
fo well a fiery death ; and it was the fame divine 
faith, perpetuated and fent forward through a cen- 
tury or two, that ferved to give vitality to the 
afcetic community, or to thofe of this clafs whom 
we may think of as worthy of our fympathies. 
But we return to the narrative before us : — another 
afpecT: of the fame fubject will prefent itfelf in the 
courfe of the following EiTay. 

The widowed mother of the youth whom we 
have juft referred to, and who had met his death 
joyfully, though inflicted with tortures, was near 
at hand where thefe furviving hermits were affem- 
bled. When fhe heard— and heard in all its de- 
tails — of the martyr-death of her young fon, me 
uttered no lamentation, but, retiring awhile, (he 
put on her jewels and her gayeft attire, and, re- 
turning, flood forth as if joyous, prepared to take 
her part in fome feftal ceremony. Lifting her 
hands to the heavens, (he addreffed her Saviour 
God in language of thankfgiving — language which, 
if it were more brief than it is, and alfo lefs rhetori- 
cal, would infpire a greater confidence than it does 
in its authenticity. But whether it be ftrictly au- 
thentic, or too much enlarged and decorated, it 
may be taken as characteriftic of the ftyle and 
feelings of the times. This Chriftian mother had 



i6o 



ESSATS, ETC. 



dedicated the youth — her only fon, to the Lord ; 
and now fne received with exultation the evidence 
that the truft had been accepted, and that the ob- 
ligation was fully fatisfied. The youth — all entire 
as he was in his vows — his continence — his ath- 
letic virtues, had fought the good fight of faith ; he 
had met the enemy, and he had conquered ; and 
now flie, his mother, might think herfelf a {barer 
in his triumphs. With his pure and faultlefs foul he 
has gone up to the fruition of joy. " His death is 
alfo my reward — his wounds are my crown. My 
fon, if thy body had found room for more ftripes 
than were inflicted upon thee, fo much the more 
would have been thy recompenfes ; grant me then, 
give me back a portion of thy reward, in payment 
for the pains I endured at thy birth !" She claims 
to fhare his glories and his rewards : fhe had fuf- 
fered on her part, he on his ; he had endured ex- 
treme, but brief tortures; me, in thus vanquifhing 
the maternal inftincts, and in thus compelling her- 
felf to hear unmoved, as a mother, the recital of 
his death, had endured a worfe pain; and hers muft 
be a lairing anguifh. " I am inwardly rent, I am 
torn, I am tormented, and muft endure thefe pains 
fo long as I live. Not fuch a mother am I as are 
the multitude of women, who, in lofing their off- 
fpring, are w 7 ont to make the air ring with their 
lamentations ; they — weeping at the death of a 
child as if they were the mothers of the bodies 
only — the limbs, the flefh, the blood ! all their 



NILUS. 



161 



thoughts are centered upon earth, and its cares, its 
pains, its hopes ; no wonder, therefore, that in this 
their ignorance of a better life, they thus bewail 
their lofs — for it is the lofs of all. It is not fo with 
me ; am I not the mother of the foul ? I do not 
rend my garments ; I do not tear my naked bofom 
and my face with my nails ; I do not pull out my 
hair by handfuls ! Thou liveft, my fon — liveft with 
God, to die no more ; and with thee mail I alfo 
live, foon as this frail body falls to earth. Happieft 
of mothers am I, who have borne fo noble an ago- 
nift, and have thus returned him — whole and tri- 
umphant — to God !" 

We thus briefly render the purport of this Spar- 
tan mother's long apoftrophe to her martyred fon; 
— to give it more at length would not be ferviceable. 
There is, however, one fuggeftion which we mould 
not omit to gather from it. If, indeed, it were a 
folitary or a rare inftance, the inference we have 
in view would not be warrantable ; but, in fact, 
this epifode in the narrative of Nilus is one of a 
kind of which the inftances frequently occur in 
the records of the early ages. By this time, and, 
in truth, at a time much anterior to this, Chrif- 
tianity had wrought its effect with great power upon 
the mind and character of woman, and it had effec- 
tively and for ever lifted her from her abafement, 
and had placed her in her due pofition of fpiritual 
equality with man — if not of companionfhip. The 
firft requifite in that renovation of the focial fyftem 

M 



l62 



ESSATS, ETC. 



which the Gofpel was to bring about for the world, 
is — the moral equality, and the rightful influence of 
woman ; — an equality and an individual develop- 
ment of mind, and an energy of the pureft affec- 
tions, which forbid the degradation of the fex, either 
in the oriental manner, or in that of ancient Greece, 
and which, irrefpe&ively of prohibitions or of de- 
crees of Councils, renders polygamy impoffible 
wherever Chriftianity prevails. In the next fol- 
lowing Effay the fame fubjeft will again come into 
view, and we now pafs it ; only faying this, that, 
little as we may relifh the declamatory ftyle or 
the vaunting tone of this Chriftian widow on this 
occafion, and open as her harangue may be to 
criticifm, on the fcore alike of good tafte and of 
found theology, this is certain, that a bright and 
firm belief of the immortality which is fet before 
us in the Gofpel had fo become a fixed habitude of 
the female mind within the Chriftian community, 
as to give to the weaker fex that one counter- 
balancing element of power, in relation to the 
ftronger fex, which is compatible with its gentle- 
nefs, with its ftyle, with its charadteriftic quali- 
ties, as feminine. Emboldened, and yet not made 
bold — ftrengthened,but not rendered mafculine — 
by the vivid confcioufnefs of her individual rela- 
tionlhip to Chrift her Saviour, and by the bright 
aflurance of immortality — woman — the Chriftian 
wife, mother, fifter, daughter — now furrounds her- 
felf with a nimbus of the light of heaven, without 



NILUS. 163 

any compromife of thofe graces which are her own, 
as the grace of this world ; and fo long as (he un- 
derstands her place, and is worthy to fill it, the 
truth has a threefold weight of meaning when ap- 
plied to the Christian woman — that godlinefs is to 
her indeed u a great gain." 

The remaining adventures of Nilus in the de- 
fert are foon told, if we note only fuch fa£ts as 
feem to be chara£teriftic of the time. We have 
faid (p. 132) that this narrative is free from thofe 
offenfive admixtures of miracle which fo much dif- 
parage moft of the patriftic writings of the fourth 
and following centuries. Greatly has Nilus the 
advantage in this refpe6t, when he is put in com- 
parifon with Jerome, and even with Auguftine. 
We need not fpecify, as an exception to this 
praife, what he affirms concerning the bodies of 
fome of the monks who had been flaughtered by 
the barbarians. As to fome of them, he fays, that 
five days had elapfed fince their death, and yet that 
no fenfible corruption had taken place; there was 
no effluvium, no difcoloration, nor had the bodies 
become a prey to bean: or bird. He fays that one 
of thofe who were mortally wounded (till furvived; 
if fo, then others might only recently have expired, 
and the furvivors might have been able to keep at 
bay the vulture and the jackal. Be this as it might, 
this is certain, that fome of Nilus's contempo- 
raries, the writers of afcetic memoirs, would not 
have been content with affirming the mere fa£l of 



164 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



the integrity of thefe facred corpfes, but would, 
moreover, have affured us that exquifite perfumes 
floated on the breeze far and near around them, 
and that a hovering effulgence had guarded the 
dead from the beaft and the bird. The abfence of 
any fuch decorations in this inftance affords us a 
reafonable ground of confidence as to the general 
truthfulnefs of the narrative. 

It was contrary to exifting treaties, as between 
the Chriftian reclufes and the Bedouin fheikhs, 
that the brethren had been thus ill-treated ; the 
marauders were in fa£l lawlefs bandits ; and their 
violences, when made known to the chief who 
claimed authority over them and over the diftridt, 
called forth an utterance of his wrath and his grief. 
In the end, reparation, fo far as might be poffible, 
was made to the furvivors, who were kindly re- 
ceived by the chief. In reaching his quarters, an 
eight days' journey, often reckoned at twelve, 
acrofs the defert, was to be undertaken, in the 
courfe of which the ufual fuffering from thirft was 
to be endured. At length, when all were near to 
perifliing — men and beafts, the nearnefs of water 
is announced ; there is a rufh forward toward it ; 
there would be a fcramble when it was reached. 
Nilus, not lefs eager than his companions to flake 
his thirft, yet would not compromife the gravity 
and dignity of his deportment, by quickening his 
pace fo far as to derange his coftume. Not too old 
to run with others, if he had pleafed to do fo, he 



NILUS. 



165 



was too regardful of facred decorums to attempt it. 
Neverthelefs, and notwithftanding his well-mea- 
fured paces, he was the firft to catch a fight of the 
pool or well. In afcending a hill he beheld the 
object of defire, but faw, with difmay, a party of 
wild Arabs crouching around it. The travelling 
party foon came up, and then the queftion was, 
which company mould run for their lives r A few 
moments of hefitation, and thefe barbarians, mea- 
furing the array of the party, matched up their 
arms, left their provifions, and made off. What re- 
joicing, what libations, what feafting now enfued ! 

Thus refrefhed, the journey's end was foon at- 
tained ; and after a brief fufpenfe and an eager 
queft — this way and that, in the crowd, the father 
and the fon met each other's glance, and were 
locked in each other's arms. The youth had been 
fpared and redeemed, and had now found the 
kindeft treatment, and pofition too, among Chrif- 
tian men. 

But in the midft of his joys, did not the father 
reproach himfelf for all that his fon had endured ? 
He did fo. Why had he brought this boy away 
from the fecurity and the good things of the city, 
the place of his birth, where no thought of danger, 
or of difturbance, or of want ever troubled him, 
to take up his comfortlefs, precarious abode in a 
howling wildernefs, the haunt of lawlefs and fa- 
vage men r W hy indeed, we may well afk, had a 
tender father done this r and why, though he does 



i66 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



not put this other queftion to his confcience, why- 
had he forfaken his public duties, and rent his do- 
meftic ties ? We can only fay, in anfwer, that when 
religious motives come in to lend their force to 
perfonal whims or to romantic fancies, there is no 
extravagance in conduct which we may not look 
for as the confequence of fuch a combination. 

It is foon demanded of the youth, Theodulus, 
that he fhould recount his adventures from the 
dark hour of the barbarian onflaught to the pre- 
fent moment. This narrative may be reported in 
fubftance, morn of its embellifhments, as follows : 
The young man excufes himfelf from repeating 
what the companion of his captivity had already 
related, or how it was that the two were awaiting 
their fate, all things ready for a foul immolation 
to be effected before funrife ; the altar, the knife, 
the libation, the incenfe, the cup — all was ready ; 
nor was a refcue from their fate to be expected 
unlefs God mould come in to the help of the help- 
lefs. Efcape by flight might be poflible, but how 
uncertain, with thefe favage men around them on 
every fide, and in the depth of an unknown wil- 
dernefs, which was outftretched between them 
and any place of fafety. One who fhould attempt 
to find his path over the hard, pathlefs rocks, 
needed, not fo much human fkill, as a power of 
divination. Yet the one of thefe youths, ven- 
turous and active, made his choice for flight ; the 
other, as he fays, broken in fpirit, threw himfelf 



NILUS. 



167 



upon the earth, and there looked for a ray of hope, 
if it might be found, in thought and prayer. 

u While we are in fecurity, and addrefs ourfelves 
to prayer, how does our foolifh mind take its cir- 
cuit among the things of life ! What images court 
the idle fancy ! Ideas of trade, and voyages ; we are 
building houfes we are planting groves ; we are 
contracting marriages ; we are actually married ; 
we fet out on expeditions ; we think of gains, of 
judgments, markets, courts, thrones, officers ; we 
avenge ourfelves upon our enemies; we meet our 
friends ; we join in feftivities ; we exercife public 
functions, and we manage our home affairs ; ay, 
and we fancy ourfelves feated upon the throne of 
imperial power ! Yes ; but it is otherwife in the 
dark hour of danger and difmay. In fuch an hour 
the ftern afpect and preffure of fome extreme ca- 
lamity drives the foul in upon itfelf ; — thought is 
digefted — it runs no more aftray. In fubmiflive 
tones we addrefs our prayers to God, even to the 
Almighty, who in the midft of the moll defperate 
forrows is able, as with a nod, and in the twink- 
ling of an eye, to bring in deliverance for us ! To 
Him did I then make my humble ^application." 
This prayer, as we find it reported or manufac- 
tured, has its eloquence ; but the one characte- 
riftic which we note, juft now, is the readinefs, 
the copioufnefs, and the pertinence of the fcrip- 
tural references which make up the body of it. A 
well-taught youth, in thefe days of the Bible, would 



i68 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



not, in this refpe£t, excel this Theodulus of the 
fifth century. Wander as they might, our Chrif- 
tian predeceffors of that time were thoroughly con- 
verfant with holy Scripture ; and they paid it all 
refpe£t, and they appealed to it, and to no other 
authorities. 

The companion of Theodulus had trufted his 
life to his bodily powers. " He has put his truft 
in his heels ; I put my truft in the Almighty: let 
it not feem, in the event, as if his confidence were 
better than mine !" The youth was thus praying, 
with tears and cries, when the barbarians fuddenly 
awoke, and, to their difmay, beheld the fun already 
rifen! They had overflept themfelves ; the cano- 
nical hour for the intended facrifice was gone by; 
and befides, there muft be two victims, but one 
had efcaped, and where was he ? None could fay. 
Then did the fpirit of the youth return to him ; 
God had come down for his deliverance, at leaft 
for the prefent moment, and he might behold the 
light and breathe the air of another day. To no 
further violence was he then fubjeited, but was 
carried to a neighbouring town, and there offered 
for fale. " No one would give my price ; none 
thought me worth more than two gold pieces !" 
The Arabs threatened to cut off his head at the 
next moment, unlefs fomeof the byftanders would 
give them their price. At length a kind-hearted 
fomebody rrfked the bargain, and thus Theodulus 
is faved. He is refcued from death, and from 



NILUS. 



169 



flavery too, and is cherifhed with Chriftian kind- 
nefs. 

The father, during the days of his anguifti and 
uncertainty as to his fon's fate, had " opened his 
lips to the Lord" — if only he might be reftored to 
him, promifing, on his own behalf and his fon's, 
that thenceforward he mould be the Lord's. The 
fon, on his part, cheerfully affents to and feconds 
the purpofe of his father, even, in like manner, as 
the virgin daughter of Jephtha had fubmitted her- 
felf to his ram vow. But now this obligation 
might be fulfilled in a mode lefs appalling, and 
more accordant with the fpirit of the Chriftian 
fyftem. The afcetic vow would fully fatisfy the 
conditions of this dedication. 

Then follows what is curious in itfelf, and is in- 
dicative of thofe unwarranted refinements which 
had come in along with the afcetic philofophy : — ■ 
there here occurs a generous parley between father 
and fon, the purport of the altercation being, to 
make an equitable alignment of the merits and 
the recompences that had been feverally earned by 
the two, in pafling through the fufferings and the 
trials of this feafon of affliction, and in doing what 
remained to fulfil the conditions of the vow. 

In the firft of thefe EfTays we have protefted 
againft the undue intrufion of logic in theology; 
and here we might find fair occafion for protefting 
againft the intrufion of what may be called arith- 
metic in the fame. So are the notions and reli- 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



gious ufages of fucceflive ages feen to fway from 
one extreme point to the oppofite ! If there be 
fruit to be gathered from an acquaintance with the 
revolutions of opinion in paft times, it will greatly 
confift in what we learn when we collate the 
fwervings of the human mind in one age, with its 
fwervings in another age. 

At length Nilus and the youngTheodulus found 
the means of fquaring their accounts with each 
other, and with heaven. The good bifliop into 
whofe hands it had been their happinefs to fall, 
befides his immediate hofpitalities, offered them aid 
in their journey, if they fliould decline his invita- 
tion to abide with them. Moreover, he overcame 
the diffidence and the fcruples of Nilus, who at 
length confented to receive prieft's orders at his 
hands. 

In one of the many religious houfes which had 
lately been founded in the defert, weftward of the 
Nile, and around or near the Natron Lakes, the 
father and the fon fought and found what they 
now knew could not be fecured in the peninfula 
of Sinai, overrun as it was by lawlefs hordes. In 
taking this more reafonable courfe there was, in- 
deed, a compromife to be fubmitted to ; the ro- 
mance of the eremitic life muft be abandoned as 
impra£licable ; and inftead of it there was to be 
quietly accepted the non-romantic monotonies, the 
perfonal reftraints, the impofed rules and forms of 
a monaftery, as well as the annoyances of a life- 



NILUS. 171 

long imprifonment with a company of perfons col- 
lected from various quarters, and themfelves of va- 
rious moral quality, whofe waywardnefs, and hu- 
mours, and infirmities, and even — incurable vices, 
muft be borne with; and all this muft be endured 
within the narrow and gloomy limits of a religious 
fortrefs, in the heart of a fcorching wildernefs. 

Neverthelefs it was here, and as abbot, and as 
writer, that Nilus found, or made for himfelf, as 
an energetic fpirit will not fail to do, the higheft 
and the choiceft earthly good : — it was not medi- 
tative quietude — it was not that fpiritual luxuriouf- 
nefs which at firft he had aimed at; — but it was a 
field, and a large field, of ufeful Chriftian labour. 

Of what fort chiefly thefe labours were, the ex- 
tant writings of Nilus give us fufficient evidence ; 
or perhaps, without indulging too far in unproved 
conjedures, we might fay that, juft now, we have 
evidences of another kind under our eyes. Within 
thefe few years paft the ftores of the Britifli Mu- 
feum have been enriched by ineftimably valuable 
manufcripts, recovered from the forgotten heaps 
of the monafteries of the Natron Lakes. A pre- 
cious fample of thefe treafures — juft given to the 
world, and confiding of fragments of the Gofpels, 
of high antiquity, may fairly be looked at in the 
light of its probable connection with the fubjeCt 
of this Effay. Nilus, himfelf intimately conver- 
fant with holy Scripture, and holding it in pro- 
foundeft veneration — himfelf alfo a man of learn- 



172 



ESSATS, ETC. 



ing — a difciple of Chryfoftom — fuch a man, when 
he found himfelf at the head of a Nitrian monas- 
tery, and looked up to as the advifer of the monks 
of the monafteries of the diftrift, would he not 
promote, with his utmoft zeal, thofe labours of 
tranfcription which already were carried on in 
thefe religious houfes ? We can believe nothing 
lefs than that it muft have been his delight — his re- 
creation, to vifit the rooms where the copyifts were 
at work, and to cheer and fuperintend their labours. 
Be it that, in faying this, and in believing this, we 
advance more than we can make good by pofitive 
evidence. From the ground of thefe furmifes we 
turn to the extant writings of our Nilus — abbot 
of one of thefe monafteries. 

At the moment when, as we have laid, the Pre- 
fect turned himfelf away from the turmoils and 
the pomps of the imperial city, his only thought 
was that of entering upon the delights, fo pure 
and fo tranquil, of a ftony paradife in the folitudes 
of Sinai. But from this dream he was rudely 
awakened, as we have feen, at an early time, by 
an onflaught of real perils, real fufferings and pri- 
vations, and of real griefs and cares. Yet this 
fchooling yielded to him, in due time, much of 
" the peaceable fruits of righteoufnefs." Nilus, 
as is manifeft from his writings, had become fami- 
liarly converfant with holy Scripture ; he had alfo 
liftened to Chryfoftom ; he had deliberately made 
his choice as between this world and the next ; 



NILUS. 173 

and now, having at length learned what he had 
needed to learn in a courfe of fufFering, and having 
convinced himfelf that his firft project was im- 
practicable, he betook himfelf to that mode of the 
afcetic life which he found to be beft fuited to his 
habits and his ftrength, and alfo more likely to allow 
of his making himfelf ufeful to others. 

In his pofition as abbot he became known, far 
and near, as an experienced, and a wife, and faith- 
ful guide in the exercifes of the religious life. 
Many had recourfe to him in this capacity — fome 
by perfonal intercourfe, and many by letter. To 
thefe he replied in a brief, pointed, and pertinent 
ftyle ; and a fample of thefe " anfwers to corre- 
fpondents " fills a folio volume. More than a 
thoufand of thefe epiftles, addreffed to more than 
feven hundred individuals, perfons of all orders — 
monks, deacons, prefbyters, bifhops, abbots, and 
fecular perfons — are in our hands : we are affum- 
ing this collection to be genuine. 

This good man found leifure, moreover, for 
compofing various tracts and treatifes, longer and 
fliorter, molt of them, as to their immediate inten- 
tion, relating to the motives and the practices of 
the afcetic life. Thefe alfo are of quantity fuffi- 
cient to fill — verfion and notes inclufive, a bulky 
folio. Thefe various compofitions give evidence 
of the writer's deep-felt and unfeigned piety, his 
keen good fenfe, and his correct judgment in quef- 
tions of conduct and temper 3 of his independence 



i 7 4 ESSAYS, ETC. 

alfo, and his plain-fpoken faithfulnefs, and of his 
knowledge of holy Scripture, and alfo of the world, 
and of human nature. As to his afceticifm, we 
hold it to be a miftake, but it was the fafhion of 
the times, and juft now we take no account of it. 
What we do take account of is that which is no 
fafhion, or whim, of any one age, and which is 
wholly irrefpedlive of the rife and fall of religious 
parties, and of thofe fortunes and misfortunes of 
the Chriftian commonwealth wherewith the paf- 
fions and the ambition of the foremoft men of the 
age were concerned, and which fill out the bulk of 
what is called church hiftory. 

The extant epiftles of Nilus were (as we have 
faid) addrefied to more than feven hundred indi- 
viduals, and thefe perfons, or moft of them, were 
either the inmates of the neighbouring religious 
houfes, or they were men in fecular offices, or they 
were the clergy of the churches of the furrounding 
diftri&s or provinces. To fome of thefe he ad- 
minifters rebukes with the utmoft freedom, and 
even ftiarpnefs, and yet with difcrimination; to the 
nugatory queftions of fome he returns a few lines 
of pertinent reply. Some of the epiftles are of 
little or no value in any fenfe ; but after fetting 
thefe off, there remains a large number, perhaps 
the greater number of the whole, that adminifter 
fpiritual advice to religious perfons who had fought 
it from him in humility and fincerity. 

What is it, then, that we ought to infer from 



NILUS. 175 

thefe letters of advice ? It is this : that in an age 
of wide-fpread diforder, an age of theological con- 
tention, of mamelefs ambition among churchmen, 
and of growing fuperftition, there were many — 
there were more than here and there a one or two 
— who, in the obfcurity and filence of monafteries, 
and alfo of private life, were cherifhing that life 
of the foul which is the true beginning on earth of 
a blifsful immortality, and who, with confcientious 
carefulnefs, were driving to bring their difpofitions 
and their conduct into conformity with the mind of 
the Saviour Chrift. And now let us a(k what it is 
among the interefts and the occupations of this 
brief and troubled life that ought to be thought 
of as real, and fubftantial, and good ; what is it 
that, after a long experience of the things of life, 
and an enjoyment, too> of many of its delights, 
what is it which we come to think and to fpeak 
of, to thofe who will liften, as indeed worthy to be 
fought after and defired — what, but thofe difpo- 
fitions, thofe affedtions, thofe tempers, and thofe 
courfes of behaviour which, under the Divine dis- 
cipline and guidance, are the fruit of daily affiduity 
in the religious life ? 

Dark ages, or bright ages, and through times 
of fluggifli movement, and through times of pro- 
grefs and energy, and while the vifible courfe 
of the world's affairs is profperous, and while it 
is tempeftuous, and let church hiftorians make 
a good report, or let them make an ill report of 



1 76 ESSAYS, ETC. 

" a century," ftill it is always true that a hoft of 
fouls, unreported of in any chronicle or cenfus, 
even a "great multitude" of human fpirits, is in 
training for their places in a kingdom that is not 
of this world. 



ESSAY IV. 



Paula : — High Quality and Afceticifm in the 
Fourth Century. 

S a tefl: of the quality of the Chris- 
tianity of any age or people, or of 
any fmall community, we might take 
this indication of it — namely, the 
bearing it is feen to take upon the relative pofition 
of the fexes. We are told that " in Chrift," that 
is to fay, under the Chriftian difpenfation, and 
when this is in its genuine condition, there is 
" neither male nor female and inafmuch as the 
facred proprieties of the domeftic relationfhips, and 
the duties and offices of hufband and wife, parents 
and children, matters and fervants, are very care- 
fully infilled upon throughout the apoftolic writ- 
ings, this muftmean — not that duties and decorums 
are forgotten, but that there is a higher and a fpi- 
ritual fenfe in which all thofe differences and all 
thofe inequalities which attach to the prefent 
ftate are merged and ceafe to be appreciable, as 

N 




i 7 8 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



related to thofe unchanging realities which belong 
to the life eternal. 

If this be the meaning of the apoftolic rule, then 
we may conclude it to be certain that, whenever 
and wherever the Chriftianity of a people fo takes 
effect upon the male and the female halves of fo- 
ciety as to divorce and disjoin them religioufly, or 
in refpect of their higheft and their fpiritual wel- 
fare, fuch a fyftem, or the fo-called Chriftianity of 
a people, has got out of courfe ; as, for inftance, if 
the fo-called Chriftianity of a people is fuch that it 
fecures the attachment of few except the women, 
the children, the infirm, and the aged ; and if it is 
almofl exclusively, as towards thefe, that the mi- 
nifters of religion are required to exercife their func- 
tions, while adult males, with rare exceptions, ftand 
aloof from it, either in indifference or in contempt ; 
if things be fo, there can be no room to doubt that 
the fubftance having long ago been loft from the 
people's " form of godlinefs," a fpecious exterior 
is all, or nearly all, that now remains to them. Or 
if, to take up a very different, or an oppofite fup- 
pofition, Chriftian belief, in its power, fo takes 
effe£t upon the male and the female mind as to 
funder that which " God has joined together," 
then, and in fuch a cafe, a deep-going error, what- 
ever it may be, has commingled itfelf with prin- 
cipal truths, and confequently that much confufion 
has been let in upon the focial economy, and upon 
the domeftic relationships. Thus it was in the times 



PAULA. 



179 



which juft now are under our notice : to what ex- 
tent it was fo we may beft fee in taking up fingle 
inftances, or fuch inftances as are reported to us 
authentically, and with fufficient amplitude. 

Yet let the reader underftand what is my pur- 
pofe in this Effay, which, as in the laft, is this, 
that while we note errors incidentally as we go, we 
aim to bring out to view whatever is true, and 
true alike in every age, and which is, or may be 
fruitful of inftru&ion, to thofe who will think fo, 
in all times. 

What has been advanced in the preceding ElTay 
concerning the fimple-hearted Nilus has been 
gathered from his own narrations, and from his 
extant letters, and from his other writings ; but now 
we have no choice but to lift a laudatory memoir, 
in dealing with which we muft difcharge a mafs 
of magniloquence and affectation. It is the learned 
and the facund Jerome who is our authority. 
While at Rome he had become known to more 
than a few Chriftian ladies of quality, toward whom 
he a£ted as their fpiritual advifer. With fome of 
thefe ladies he maintained correfpondence after his 
retirement to Bethlehem ; and fome of them fol- 
lowed him to Paleftine, and eftablifned themfelves 
in religious houfes not remote from his monaftery. 
Among thefe was the high-born and illuftrious 
lady, the " Paula, faint, and widow, and abbefs, 5 " 
as we find her named in the Romifh and Eaftern 
calendars. 



i8o ESSAYS, ETC. 

Picked from out of fome half-dozen of Jerome's 
epiftles, the biography of this lady-afcetic is briefly 
this: — By parentage and by marriage alfo fhe flood 
related to the ancient ariftocracy of Rome ; the 
great hiftoric names of the republican times fhed 
a fplendour upon her houfe : fo we are told. Ample 
revenues, moreover, were hers: — Nobilis genere, 
fed multo nobilior fanctitate : potens quondam di- 
vitiis, fed nunc Chrifti paupertate infignior. And 
we muft infer that the family eftates or revenues, 
or a large portion of them, inftead of having been 
furrendered or alienated when fhe retired from the 
world, continued to be at her difpofal, for to the 
laft fhe was a builder of churches and a founder 
of monafteries. 

Paula, rich and noble, had married early, Her 
hufband, as rich and noble as herfelf, had died, 
leaving a fon and four daughters to the care of 
their mother, herfelf ftill young. Of thefe daugh- 
ters one, named Euftochium, has taken a place in 
the faint-lift of the Churches, and is known efpe- 
cially as the difciple and the favoured correfpondent 
of Jerome. She was a lady fo learned, that this 
great writer did not hefitate to addrefs to her fome 
of the mo ft important of his critical and ethical 
writings. At the time when ftie loft her hufband, 
Paula was, in mind and habit, in and of the world : 
her widowhood dated from her thirty-fecond year. 
This (harp affliction threw her into the fociety of 
a " holy widow" and a fevere afcetic, then highly 



PAULA 



181 



reputed in the Chriftian circles of Rome. Yield- 
ing herfelf to the guidance of this friend, (he fought 
and found an affuagement of thofe griefs that are 
earthly only, in an abfolute dedication of herfelf, 
body and foul, to God — a vow, made in conformity 
with the fafhion of the times. This dedication 
implied, firft, a vow not to contract a fecond mar- 
riage ; and then the adoption of thofe aufterities to 
which fo much merit and importance had come to 
be attached in the opinion of the ancient Church. 

Rome was, at that time, as always it has been, 
a centre, vifited by holy bifhops from far and near; 
and fo it happened that the wealthy Paula (fuch 
things do not belong exclufively to one age, but 
meet us in every age) thought herfelf only too 
much honoured, and the moft happy of women, 
when thefe reverend perfons condefcended to be 
her guefts. In converfe with fome of thefe (among 
them was the noted Epiphanius of Cyprus) me had 
liftened, with intenfity of feeling, to glowing de- 
fcriptions of the holy places of Paleftine, and the 
neighbouring Bible countries. Her enthufiafm had 
become inflamed; and her longing defire to fet 
foot upon the facred foil, and to kneel at altars, 
and to kifs footprints, had rifen to a pitch of irre- 
fiftible impatience. The paffion for pilgrimage had 
become fo ftrong that no obligations, no natural 
ties, no maternal inftinfts, could reftrain it : it had 
poffefled itfelf of her foul. Some of the holy 
bimops with whom me had converfed, and who 



l82 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



had been her guefts, were now returning to their 
fees in the Eaft. The zealous polemic, Epipha- 
nius of Cyprus, was about to do fo. Paula took 
her paflage in the veffel in which thefe bifhops were 
about to embark. Her near relatives, and her fur- 
viving children, attended her to the water's edge : 
her fon, {till quite young, and confcious of his need 
of a mother's care at Rome, clung to her, and, 
with floods of tears and loud entreaties, befought 
her not to defert him ; or at leaft to delay a little 
while the rending of this tie. But the Roman 
lady — the defcendant of heroic patricians, is of 
firmer mould of mind than to be thus turned from 
her purpofe; a young mother's eyes are moiftened 
by no tears while me looks heavenward, and, {ri- 
fling nature, obeys, as {he thinks, the call of hea- 
ven — ilia ficcos tendebat ad coelum oculos, pieta- 
tem in filios pietate in Deum fuperans. But why 
mould me not read the will of heaven where it is 
written in the Book — written plainly enough ? 
Yet juft now we keep another purpofe in view, 
and are not intending to find fault, but to find 
Chriftian energies. Aufpicious winds filled the 
fails, and the heights of Cyprus foon came into 
view. Paula and her daughter, Euftochium — and 
{he, with her new vows upon her, and both of them 
dead to the world, as they thought (in intention 
they were fo) and cut off from its gentle affec- 
tions, fet foot on the ifland where churches and 
monafteries had everywhere fupplanted temples. 



PAULA. 183 

After a fhort ftay with the holy bifhop, the 
mother and the daughter — or, as we mould now fay 
— the two " fitters," the elder and the younger — 
embarked anew, foon to fet an impatient foot upon 
the facred more of Paleftine. We fhould gain little 
of entertainment, and little of edification, in follow- 
ing thefe ladies, as they palled from fpot to fpot 
throughout Paleftine — Jerome their guide, or at 
leaft the learned expofitor, and the journalift of the 
tour. At Bethlehem, near to him, (he at length 
fixed her abode. For three years it was in a road- 
fide public-houfe — angufto per triennium manfit 
hofpiteolo — but afterwards fhe eftablifihed herfelf 
in a commodious monaftery, which me had caufed 
to be conftructed near at hand, and into which 
many devoted women were in courfe of time ad- 
mitted. 

In her journeys throughout Paleftine, and in her 
frequent vifitations of the religious houfes and the 
hermitages, far and near, in Egypt and in the Arabian 
defert, this Roman lady, who heretofore had been 
wont to travel in a luxurious palanquin, borne on 
the moulders of eunuchs, was content to ride upon 
an afs ; and fhe did this under the fervours of the 
fun of Syria and of Egypt. Before her departure 
from Italy fhe had adopted, and had learned to en- 
dure, thofe aufterities which were the conditions 
and the characteriftics of the u afcetic philofophy." 
We are allured that from the moment of her vow 
fhe never fat at table with a man — no, not even a 



184 ESSAYS, ETC. 

holy bifhop — noreverfpoke with anvman otherwife 
than in public. She eat no meat \ fhe abftained 
from fifh, eggs, honey, and wine : oil fhe ufed only 
on holidays : fhe lay upon a ftone floor, with a 
fackcloth mat. Her time was fpent in prayer, in 
almfgiving, in vifitations of thefick; and at length 
in the government of the religious focieties which 
fhe had eftablifhed. In thefe houfes the ftricteft 
difciplinewas obferved; the feven times of devotion 
were punctually regarded: the Pfalter, entire, was 
daily recited : the dietary was of the very fimpleft 
kind, and the fails were fevere and frequent. All 
the nuns wore the fame fombre habit, and all took 
their turn in performing the menial offices of the 
houfe. In a word, the afcetic regimen, which in 
all times has been very much the fame in its viiible 
afpect, and in its feverities, was, in this inftance, 
if we may take the extant records of it as our 
truftworthy authority, fully realized. 

We have already laid that this Roman lady re- 
tained her patrimonial wealth : it muft have been 
fo ; for in addition to extenfive almfgiving, prac- 
tifed in and around her eftablifhments, fhe built 
churches and monafteries, very many ; and in doing 
fo fhe gave evidence of her confiftency and her 
good fenfe, for fhe excluded all coftly decorations 
from them. The church, or the monaftery, was fo 
conftrucled, and was fo furnifhed, and fo embel- 
lifhed, as that it mould beft fubferve its profeiTed 
purpofes, namely, the promotion of piety, and the 



PAULA. 



185 



welfare of the indigent. Thus occupied, and thus 
living in earneft, according to the light of her times, 
me paffed about twenty years in her feclufion at 
Bethlehem, and there fhe died, a pattern of Chrif- 
tian affiduity and of unity of purpofe — living a life 
on earth which in all things was intended to fecure 
the life eternal. 

With what belongs exclufivelv to the religious 
fafhions of the times we have nothing now to do ; 
but we have this to fav, that although it was not 
in the intention or the thoughts of the Chriftian 
men and women of the afcetic ages, a moral pro- 
cefs was then in courfe, to trace which, from its 
commencements, we muft look back from the 
fifth century, five hundred years. This was a 
procefs which, even now, has not quite reached 
its completion ; for it (hall then onlv be complete 
when Chriftian principles and Chriftian moralities 
(hall thorou^hlv have taken effect upon the focial 
fyftem — that fyftem being moulded chiefly by the 
influence of Chriftian women — women in their 
fphere — not out of it. 

A page or two may fuffice for fetting forth what 
we here intend. 

If five hundred years be reckoned back from 
the times now in our view, they bring us into the 
fcenes of that critical time when a ri^ht-hearted 
few among the Jewifh people were nobly contend- 
ing for Great Truths with the ferocious Antiochus. 
It was then, and it was then firjl^ that thefe great 



i86 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



truths — even the main matters of the " law and the 
prophets," came to be fealed in blood upon the na- 
tional mind ; and it was then alfo that a glimmer, 
and more than a glimmer, of a bright immortality, 
had come to mine upon that mind. But it was 
then alfo that another confequence of the ftruggle, 
— moft deeply touching the well-beingof the nations 
that ages afterwards were to become Chriftian — 
rifes to view on the ftage of religious hiftory. It 
was in the courfe of that fame cruel conflict that 
Woman firft made good her title to be regarded as 
man's companion, and as quite his equal in moral 
greatnefs, in courage, in conftancy, and in con- 
fiftency : it was then that " out of the weaknefs" 
of herfexual difparityflie not only became "ftrong," 
but me very often proved herfelf to be, as in all 
martyr times me has been — the ftronger of the 
two ; and this, not in the inftance of here and 
there a heroine, but, in very frequent inftances, 
even though of the feebleft bodily framework. It 
was then, and then firft, perhaps, that the mind of 
woman — quickened by the definite conception of a 
refurreclion to life, even to " abetter refurredtion," 
thenceforward took her place as the teacher and 
exemplar of a pure, a firm, a lofty morality ; me 
did fo as wife, as mother, as fifter. 

The moral refults and the religious traditions of 
thofe times of fuffering had held themfelves entire, 
in many Jewim homes, throughout the years of the 
following century ; and fo it was that they came 



PAULA. 187 

up, and we recognize them afrefh in the Gofpel 
narratives. If there be anything in the wide com- 
pafs of ancient hiftory that — out of all queftion, is 
genuine, is true — it is — woman's part in the Gofpel 
hiftory. Who could then have imagined, and 
who fhould have invented thefe incidents, and 
thefe brief utterances of pure, deep, feminine feel- 
ing ? The Jewifh women of that time had not 
been moulded by Chriftianity ; for they had already 
been created, and had received their training, in 
preparation for its arrival. The doctrine which 
was to give moral greatnefs, along with meeknefs 
and purity, to thofe who fhould receive it, lodged 
itfelf at once in the mature hearts of Jewifh wo- 
men who, in a true fenfe, were the daughters of 
the noble women of the A^accabean age. 

The preparation for the Gofpel, in every city of 
the Roman world, was the Judaifm it found there 
— with its Holy Scripture — Mofes, and the Pro- 
phets, and the Pfalms, read every Sabbath in the 
fynagogues. But this was not all ; for an order of 
feeling and a mode of conducl: which neither the 
Grecian nor the Roman civilization could at all 
fupply, or could imitate, were everywhere in rea- 
dinefs among thofe women — whether Jewifh or 
Grecian, who had long been the ftated frequenters 
of the Sabbath fervices in the fynagogue. Thus 
it was that the principal element of our modern 
focial well-being — that one element which is the 
fource and the reafon of whatever is pure, and 



i88 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



loving, and right in the domeftic. relationships, was 
provided for, and was immediately realized, in the 
apoftolic focieties. Women, acting in their inde- 
pendent moral individuality, took their place as 
members of the Church ; and they became alfo — 
for fervices fuited to them — its minifters. 

At how early a time this genuine and mo ft auf- * 
picious evangelic pofition of woman in the Church 
came to be interfered with and loft, none can now tell 
us. At the earlieft time at which our materials are 
more than mere fragments, the mifchief had made 
great progrefs. Inafmuch as the afcetic philofophy 
had taken up the fenfuous and oriental idea of 
purity, and thus had actually fenfualized, by un- 
wifely attempting to refine, thofe feelings which 
are fpecially feminine, the tendency of it was again 
to degrade woman, and fo to nullify the claim me 
had long before made valid, as able to take her 
place of companionfhip, and of abfolute moral 
equality, by the fide of man. 

And thus it was that another courfe of fevere 
and long-continued fufFering had become the ne- 
ceflary means of arrefting the downward progrefs 
of things. The Antiochus of the Maccabean times 
found philofophic emperors and prefects — even 
fome of the choiceft men of imperial Rome, who 
were well inclined to take up his unfinished work. 
So it was that once again, in the unmoved en- 
durance of " cruel mockings and fcourgings" and 
of fiery tortures, woman — Chriftian woman, chal- 



PAUL J. 



lenged anew her equality with man ; and nobly 
did me then win the praife of poffeffing " a like 
precious faith," and a like courage, and, if not the 
fame bodily nerve, yet a ftrength of foul which 
flood proof againft the far keener anguifh which 
fhe felt, as of feebler frame. So it was at a very 
early time, as we are authentically told, not only 
by Chriftian rnemorialifts, but alio by a Roman 
gentleman and pedant, who coldly fays that he, 
and his ruffian tormenters had been quite baffled 
by the firmnefs of two young women of fervile 
condition, whofe conftancy he had put to the teft 
— all to no purpofe, for he could wring no crimi- 
nating confeffion from them. 

The martyr times — a two hundred years, or 
more, of intermittent fuffering — reckoning from 
Trajan to Diocletian, had not only ferved to give 
to Chriftianity its proper atteftation, but, in doing 
fo, it had again made fure of this — its vitalizing 
principle, namely — the moral pofition of woman as 
man's equal in the fight of God. But the martyr 
age had now parTed by, and even before it had 
reached its end, the conftant tendency of the focial 
fyftem to fall out of its due equilibrium had again 
mown itfelf in the prevalence of thofe fpurious 
notions of purity which never fail deeply to difturb 
the relationfhip of the fexes. Neverthelefs, this 
difturbance (to make a new experiment upon 
which, in this age, would be an extreme folly) 
had found fome compenfations ; and, in refpect of 



190 ESSJTS, ETC. 

thofe long ages of European barbarifm which were 
to fucceed, it fubferved purpofes which were highly 
important ; but thefe have often been fpecified. 

We return, for a moment, to the lady abbefs, 
who, like our friend Nilus, foon came into a po- 
rtion of authority and of extenfive influence ; for 
fhe not only governed the religious houfes which 
fhe had founded, but fhe made periodic circuits, or, 
as we may call them, vifitations, profefledly, per- 
haps, for her own edification, in converfe with the 
reclufes ; but, no doubt, fhe was welcomed among 
them as an advifer, and as one who was vefted 
with a virtual authority, and who fpoke as the fupe- 
rior of a large community, fcattered over the lower 
Egypt, the Arabian defert, and Southern Paleftine. 

Nilus, as abbot, had turned to good account 
the magifterial habits of his early life ; and his ftyle 
and deportment, and his knowledge of the world 
gave him an advantage which would foon be re- 
cognized and fubmitted to. Paula, as abbefs, 
might believe that fhe had laid afide, for ever, and 
had forgotten, the demeanour, the tones of voice, 
the graceful geftures, the inftin£ts of birth, of 
rank, and of wealth ; but fhould we have thought 
fo, if it had chanced to us to fee her, followed 
by her bevy of nuns, as fhe glided forwards to her 
place in church on an Eafter Sunday morning? 
If we wifli to imagine this high-born perfonage 
of the fourth century, we might be aided in doing 
fo by looking at the portrait of her counterpart of 



PAULA. 191 

the feventeenth century — the Mother Angelica 
Arnauld,abbefs titular of Port Royal; both of them 
lofty-minded women ; but in both of them there 
"dwelt richly" that " word of Chrift," which, 
while it ennobles the meaneft fouls, brings low the 
loftieft ; that word which, in its bearing upon the 
mind, and the conduct, and the affections of wo- 
man, infpires her with a courage not at all inferior 
to that of man, and which, while it does fo, abates 
nothing of her gentlenefs, or of that devotednefs to 
the welfare of others which is efpecially her cha- 
racteriftic. 

We fliould not quite forget Paula's fpiritual 
director through life, and her eloquent panegyrift. 
Jerome's powerful intellect, his extraordinary ac- 
compli fnments, and his knowledge of the world ; 
and perhaps, alfo, the blandifhments of his per- 
fonal manners, when he found himfelf among per- 
fons of rank, had made him the object of many 
flattering attentions from women of this clafs. 
Such were Paula and her daughter Eustochium. 
Everything, in this fpecies of intercourfe, was right 
and fafe, and was far remote from fcandal ; it was 
fanctioned by the religious notions of the times — 
by the prominent pofition of the parties, and by 
thofe auftere decorums which were everywhere 
regarded by leading perfons in the Church. But 
there was then (and the fame ingredients in human 
nature will, in every age, fhow their prefence) — 
there was then prevalent much of that fort of unc- 



192 ESSAYS, ETC. 

tious adulatory interchange of fpiritual courtefies 
which has place between favoured clerical perfons 5 
and high-born religious women. This ftyle is 
rendered peculiar by the fpeciality of the conditions 
under which it arifes ; for, juft in proportion as it 
ftands far removed from a touch or breath of 
fcandal, it becomes fo much the more intenfe in 
its own quality, and, whatever that quality may 
be, the reaction upon thofe concerned is fo much 
the more real, as it is exempted from the fufpicions 
of both by the confcious rectitude of each. If 
now it w T ere aflced on which fide this peculiar influ- 
ence produces its moft marked refiilts, we mould 
incline to fay that it is on the fide of the clerical 
recipients of this purely-meant feminine devotion ; 
—in thefe inftances the idol fuffers more injury 
than the worfhipper. It might not be very diffi- 
cult to trace its prefence in the rofy colour it 
ftieds upon certain phafes of doctrine, or in the 
fmooth rhythm of our religious conventionalifms ; 
or, in the tone and ftyle of pulpit, and ftill more, 
of platform oratory. But how has this perfumed 
and z ephyr-like adulation been accepted, in dif- 
ferent times, by clerical perfons ? 

Might w r e here indulge in fketching a picture 
or two which may offer fome curious contrails ? 
Let us think, then, in the firft place, of the group 
of which Jerome's brief notices furnifh the out- 
lines. On a rugged, pathlefs afcent of the rocky 
region, which is within a day's journey of the 



PAULA. 193 

Holy City, we fee a company advancing : — there 
is that accomplished theologue — the terror of Vi- 
gilantius, and of all fuch-like heretics, but the 
courteous companion of orthodox afcetic ladies : it 
is Jerome who leads the way. Under the blaze 
of a Syrian fummer's noon, he rides an afs \ he has 
drawn his monks' hood far enough over his face 
to throw his fharp, prominent features into a half 
(hade, which Rembrandt would have caught at. 
At a little diftance in the rear — and fhe alfo riding 
an afs — follows the graceful defcendant of the he- 
roes of Livy's fabulous books : it is thelady Paula. 
She defies the fcorching beams, and fhe welcomes 
her fufferings as a fort of martyrdom : by her fide, 
or lagging a little in the rear, and fhe alfo feated 
on an afs, is the fair nun, the pupil of Jerome in 
Greek and Hebrew. She ftoops and languishes, 
but fhe will not be girl enough to utter a petulant 
murmur. Yet it was not thus that Eufrochium 
was ufed to pafs along the broad ways of Rome : 
yet all now is right in her mind, and fhe enjoys 
inward peace : then follow the attendants, with a 
wild Arab or two, hired as guides and guards ; 
thefe, wrapped in their mantles, and poifing their 
long lances on the fhoulder, mufe as they go ; or 
mule not at all ; but if they do mufe, it is upon the 
whim — fo unintelligible — which prompts fuch per- 
fons to endure fuch a journey only to gaze at 
ftones ! 

If we turn from this fcene, and look toward the 
o 



i 9 4 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



weftern world, we may fee the humble — the 
haughty, St. Martin lounging on a divan in the pa- 
lace of a Caefar, his low-bred prefbyters and dea- 
cons, reclining on velvet, to the right and left of 
him. Kneeling at his feet, and not daring to 
raife her eyes fo as ftedfaftly to gaze upon the 
faintly vifage — kneeling at the feet of this monk, 
there is an emprefs — and this emprefs all but 
fpurned ! 

Now, for the fake of a needed refrefhment, 
fliall we defcend the ftream of ages, and, brunting 
the chilling fogs of a winter's afternoon, in Eng- 
land, take our place by the roadfide ? Here comes 
the Bedfordfhire tinker and the roughly-ufed Bap- 
tift preacher ; he is mounted on a raw-boned 
mare ; he is on his way to " Meeting" at a five- 
mile-act barn, and he has confented to allow the 
farmer's wife (the farmer is his good deacon, and 
the fharer of his pad perfecutions, and fhe is a 
buxom perfon) to take her place behind him on 
the pillion. The way is long, the ruts are deep, 
the evening is cheerlefs ; but John Bunyan, though 
of focial temperament, is a fhrewd man and wife ; 
and he is a great mafter of human nature, and fo 
he jogs on in bluff filence. He hears no woman's 
flatteries ; probably they would not have been 
offered to him ; he invites no converfation ; he 
will liften to none : he is intent upon getting a 
better hold of his " ninth head of difcourfe." 
John Bunyan has determined to keep himfelf al- 



PAULA. 



I9S 



ways on the fafe fide of things. Has he not given 
us lively portraits of Madame Wanton, and of 
Airs. Inconfiderate, and of Airs. Lightmind, and 
of others r As a minifter he has one rule of con- 
duct ; it is not the afcetic rule, but it is not the lefs 
efficacious ; it is far more lb : — it is puritanic ; and 
if we will follow him to " Meeting," and will there 
liften to the hour-and-half fermon, we fhall find 
that a confiftent and a high-toned morality is the 
preacher's interpretation of that Gofpel, which he 
proclaims, even as glad tidings for the M chief of 
finners." 

Shall we come down another hundred years r 
It may be a November evening, or it may be a 
May morning— no matter, for the gentle and true- 
hearted George Whitefield is fnugly feated by the 
fide of that noble-hearted lady, the Countefs of 
Huntingdon ; fhe, as pure as purity itfelf ; and her 
clerical friend blamelefs, if ever man has been 
blamelefs ; or we may find him in her ladyfhip's 
drawing-room : he is the man of the fplendid 
company, although there be prefent the chief wits 
of the time— Chefterfield, Garrick, Littleton. 
What now is there in all this which mould call 
for criticifm or ferious reprehenfion r Nothing ; 
and yet it may be permitted us to fav that when 
the minifters of religion allow themfelves to ac- 
cept freely thofe warm teftimonies of regard which 
their female hearers and followers are fo prompt 
to render to them, they are likely to pafs into an 



196 



ESSATS, ETC. 



ambiguous mental condition, v/hich intercepts the 
free exchange of thought between themfelves and 
the men — the laymen — of their focial and paftoral 
circles. Thus it comes about that fermons are 
compofed and delivered v/hich women eagerly ap- 
plaud, but which men liften to with far lefs than 
thorough fatisfaction : they too may applaud, for 
the preacher is eloquent, and they believe him to 
be fincere ; yet thefe educated laymen come out 
of church convinced on no one queftionable point 
and they feel that while the flender and foft ex- 
periences of female religious life are underftood, 
and are duly treated by the preacher, the hard, the 
arduous, the perplexing, the titan realities of 'man's 
courfe through this difficult world — thefe ftrong 
things, are either not grappled with at all, or they 
are always mifunderftood, as a man mifunderftands 
things which he has never feen otherwife than at 
a diftance, and through a milt. 



ESSAY V. 



Theodofius : — Pagan Ufages^ and the Christian 
Magistrate. 

ITUATIONS which, at a glance, 
may attrafl our attention and invite 
companion by their apparent fimila- 
rity, will often, on nearer view, in- 
ftead of being identical, fcarcely prefent an element 
of analogy. At this moment the Britifh Rule is, 
year by year, extending itfelf, as if it were never 
to reach its limit, and it embraces all races of men 
and all their religions. All beliefs, and every variety 
of ufage are thus coming continually into more in- 
timate, and therefore into more difficult, relation- 
fhip with modes of feeling which can have no 
fympathy therewith, and with creeds towards which 
the European mind can barely conceal its con- 
tempt, and — as a climax of perplexity — with infti- 
tutions that are abominable — that are infufferable, 
and that are wholly incompatible with even the 
mofl: lax rule for the maintenance of public order. 



198 ESSAYS, ETC. 



The Britifh domination in India is that of 
a profefledly Chriftian Power over fubjugated 
heathens; — a difficult pofition : but fhall we not 
find fome kind of guidance, cautionary guidance, 
at leaft, in looking back to thofe times when 
Chriftian magiftrates extended, as we do now, 
the fceptre and the fword widely over pagan popu- 
lations ? There was a time when the magiftrate, 
abfolute and irrefponfible as he was, and himfelf 
undoubtedly Chriftian as to his perfonal beliefs, 
iffued edicts, and enforced them too, over all 
countries around the Mediterranean : and he 
did fo while a many- coloured polytheifm was ftill 
the profeffion, and gave law to the habits, of the 
great mafs of the people, high and low. Indivi- 
dual emperors, from Conftantine to Juftinian, dif- 
fered much in ability, and in perfonal merits, and 
in pofition alfo ; neverthelefs they, or the later 
emperors, purfued a courfe toward the paganifm 
of their times, toward the heathen populace, and 
toward the priefts of the antiquated idolatries, 
which might be reprefented as uniform and co- 
herent, and w T hich was fuch as might be fpoken 
of as " a policy." 

Might not, then, that policy be fpread forth to 
view, and be made ufe of as an exemplar which 
we fhould do well to imitate, even now, when we 
are called upon anew, by the recent courfe of 
events, to confider and to reconfider thofe prin- 
ciples under the guidance of which we intend 



THEODOSIUS. 199 

henceforward to govern countries containing a 
fifth part of the human family ? Moft of thefe peo- 
ple are polytheifts, or thofe of them that are mo- 
notheifts are ftill more difficult to be dealt with, 
for they are fanatics for their one truth. 

No doubt there are thofe among us who, ac- 
cepting the commendations that are beftowed by 
the Church writers of the fourth and fifth cen- 
turies upon the pious and zealous emperors of 
thofe times, would, with little hefitation, take 
pattern by thefe Chriftian magiftrates, and would 
even outdo them in the fervour of their endeavours 
to trample out the fmouldering fires of every falfe 
worfhip. But if a caution were needed for arreft- 
ing the courfe of any fuch zeal as this, it might 
foon be found in looking to the fadts of the alleged 
cafe ; for in doing fo, we may prefently become 
convinced that, in almoft every inftance of an ap- 
parent analogy between the two fituations, the 
refemblance is apparent only ; while the difference, 
or the contrariety, is real and extreme. 

Thefe points of difference, or thefe contrarieties, 
are obvious, and they may be foon enumerated : 
they are fuch as thefe, and our comparifon is that 
which prefents itfelf in bringing under the eye the 
Roman Imperial government, from the time of 
Conftantine's declaration in favour of Chriftianity, 
to a late time, when paganifm had everywhere gone 
down, as a feculent fediment, refting at the very 
bottom of the focial mafs: or it would be enough 



200 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



if we fliould take as our limit the latter years of 
the reign of Juftinian. 

After fome fmall exceptive inftances, belonging 
to the outfkirts of the empire, have been allowed 
for, then it may be faid that the mafter of the 
Roman world, for the time being, or its mafters 
— eaft and weft, ruled their own : the oIxqv{jlevyi 
was their patrimony : its centre was the head and 
the heart of a living body which, throughout long 
periods, had throbbed with one pulfe, and had 
moved with one intention. The wide interpre- 
tation given to the right and privilege of Roman 
citizenfhip had related all to all, and all to the one 
fource of power. The nations, diverfe as they 
were, had now, through ages, looked up from the 
eaft and from the weft, from the north and from 
the fouth, to the one refplendent orb of imperial 
wifdom, and had all kept the ear attent to the 
one voice — whether a thunder or a whifper — of 
the imperial will. The nations " under the whole 
heavens" acknowledged the rightfulnefs as well as 
the power of the imperial rule, and they gloried in 
its glories, as well as bowed their necks to its forces. 

How can a political condition of nations, fuch 
as this, be brought into comparifon with a condi- 
tion fo utterly unlike it as is that of the nations and 
races which have been brought to pay tribute to 
the Committee alTembling in Leadenhall-ftreet ? 
The difference here is fuch as to imply and to 
embrace all other imaginable diffimilarities, and it 



THEODOSIUS. 201 



is fo great as that it might be held to excufe our 
declining to inftitute any companion at all be- 
tween the two cafes. Can it be rightful, or would 
it be politic, or mail it be fafe, to ena£t in India, 
as from London, that which was enacted for the 
Roman world, from Constantinople ? The pagan 
populace in remote countries, and its priefts, might 
think themfelves aggrieved by certain edicts, or 
harfhly-ufed by fome over-zealous Chriftian Pre- 
fect ; but the Roman people at large — the hundred 
nations of the olnovyikm, did not feel itfelf aggrieved ; 
it was their own Caefar who had fpoken. Every- 
thing has an oppofite afpect in the modern inftance. 
Nations trodden to the earth by a race that is 
gifted with more nerve and mind, and that has am- 
pler means than their own, are writhing beneath 
the felfifh foot of a detefted invader, whofe mifun- 
derftood beneficences are, in their view, ten times 
over-paid for by the rigours of his fifcal exactions. 
Warrantably fo, or not, this is, and this muft, for 
long years to come, be the afpect under which 
Britifh fupremacy is regarded by the nations of 
India. Again the grounds of comparifon fail us, 
if we confider what had been the training of the 
Roman mind up to the time of the Chriftianizing 
of the empire, and what has been that of the 
people of India, and what their preparation for ac- 
cepting the religion of their European matters. 

The nations, eaft and weft, that were embraced 
in the circle of the empire, at the time now in 



202 ESSATS, ETC. 



view, had all become partakers in the fame civili- 
zation ; they had all drank at the fame fountains 
of knowledge ; there was one mind-world : there 
was, and there had long been, a communion of 
thought, and a brotherhood in fcience, and in phi- 
lofophy, and in poetry and art, the Greek lan- 
guage being the medium of this intellectual com- 
merce. Even the people of the Syrian ftock had 
taken up and had affimilated the mental and moral 
aliment that was fupplied to them by the poets, 
the orators, and the fages of Greece. So it was, 
therefore, that when the Chriftian argument, fuch 
as we find it fet forth in the pages of its afiailants, 
and of its apologifts, of the third, fourth, and fifth 
centuries, was brought forward, it was carried on 
in the hearing of all men of the educated claffes, 
from border to border of the Roman world. All 
men, or all who chofe to give an ear to a contro- 
verfy of this kind, had become more or lefs well 
informed of the grounds and the merits of the 
caufe which was then at iffue between the Church 
and the Polytheiftic religions. 

Confequently, at the moment when the Im- 
perial edict ftartled the Roman world, a brief 
feafon of furprife was all the (hock that men's 
minds were fubjefted to in learning that Chrifti- 
anity had at length got the ftart of its rivals. At 
a later time, and when meafures of a more decifive 
kind were carried out in its favour, and in dis- 
couragement of the waning fuperftitions, nothing 



THEODOSIUS. 



that could be unintelligible to either party took 
place ; nothing was done for which a preparation 
•had not been made in the thought and the feeling 
of all concerned. Edicts, touching the temples 
and the ufages of heathenifm, were only the often- 
fible a£ls and the fteps in a tranfition which all 
men felt had been taking its flow and inevitable 
courfe around them, for a long while. 

Nothing that refembles, even remotely, this re- 
lative pofition of Chriftianity and heathenifm, at- 
taches to the contaft of the former with the latter 
in India in thefe times. If the people of India 
were indeed of another race, and if they fpoke lan- 
guages older than Babel, and if their fuperftitions 
had arifen millenniums ago out of the infernal pit 
— or defcribe their intellectual and religious ftate 
in terms as ftrong as any we can find, we mall 
fcarcely overftate the fa6t of the incommunicable 
divulfion of the two worlds of thought and feeling 
— the European and the Hindoo-oriental. Athwart 
the bottomlefs gulf which divides the one world 
from the other world, nothing paffes to and fro : 
or nothing — in its genuine form. 

It is true that, annually, fome fcores of Hindoo 
youths — the frequenters of non-Chriftian colleges, 
acquire enough Englifh to read Shakefpeare and 
our Quarterly Reviews, and to make us believe 
that India has now fet foot upon the field of Eu- 
ropean thought. But we muft not truft ourfelves 
to any fuch films of correfpondence as this ; we 



204 ESSAYS, ETC. 



mould not fo eafily perfuade ourfelves that the na- 
tions of India are coming near to us, either morally 
or intellectually, or that they are able to affent to 
our hiftorical beliefs with an enlightened confciouf- 
nefs of the grounds of any fuch afient. Hindoos 
may indeed accept the Gofpel at our hands, and, 
if they do fo, it will bring its bleffings with it, to 
their infinite benefit individually, and there may 
be hundreds of converfions, and Miffionary So- 
cieties may be warranted in appealing to their fuc- 
ceffes ; — neverthelefs, the nations with their mil- 
lions that have come under our rule in the Eaft 
ftill remain incalculably remote from any condition 
which fhould qualify them fairly and knowingly to 
adjudge the caufe at iffue between the feveral re- 
ligions of their anceftors, and the one religion of 
their mafters — their conquerors. Our inference, 
therefore, is this : That thofe meafures for the 
maintenance of Chriftianity and for the fupprefiion 
and removal of polytheifm, which the Chriftian 
emperors of the fourth century might warrantably 
adopt, cannot, for a moment, be thought of as ap- 
plicable, under any modifications, for effecting 
fimilar purpofes, by ourfelves, in India. 

Throughout that period during which Chrifti- 
anity and Paganifm were in conflict and in balance, 
and while the iffue might ftill feem doubtful, there 
was, on the one fide, not only a doctrine and a 
fyftem of morality which were allowed to be infi- 
nitely fuperior to anything that could be found on 



THEODOSIUS. 205 

the other fide, but along with this fuperiority, and 
as its confequence, there was a determinate belief, 
held by thoufands of men and women with a ful- 
nefs of perfuafion and an attachment, immoveably 
firm. On the other fide there was nothing more 
fubftantial than popular beliefs, which, long before 
the time of this conflict, had come to be fpurned 
and ridiculed by fages and their difciples. Thefe 
relics of paganifm, thefe ceremonies, and thefe 
domeftic worfhips, which were fuftained by no 
vital forces, mi^ht be likened to the faded coftumes 
and the dingy embroidered trappings that are feen 
bagging upon the wooden effigies of the kings and 
knights of the middle ages. The worn out, the 
tattered and botched heathenifm, which Julian 
fancied he might make to (land again upon its 
legs, was everywhere, and in every city of the em- 
pire, and in almoft every home, confronted with 
the truth, the reafon, the living and the ftirring 
energies of the Chriftian faith. 

How, then, can a parallelifm be thought to hold 
when we turn from the doings of the Roman 
world, in the times of Theodofius II. to the 
policy and the meafures lately purfued, or now 
intended to be purfued, in India ? 

Often, during thefe forty years paft, benevolent 
audiences have been affured from platforms that 
the fuperftitions of India were waning — were dying 
out from the mind of the people, and that Satan's 
empire was tottering to its fall ; — a little while, 



206 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



and it fhall afflict our eyes and ears no more ! 
Recent events have fubjoined a dire comment to 
thefe hafty announcements. The Polytheifm of 
India, with its lurid ferocities and its filth, juft 
becaufe it has never allied itfelf with any concep- 
tions of beauty or of order— as did that of Greece — 
and juft becaufe it takes no fpring from any axioms 
of reafon, has confixed itfelf upon the Hindoo foul 
—has grown into it — has gone down in its impurity, 
and in its cruelty, and in its abfurdity : as a girdle 
of brafs it encircles the moral and rational faculties, 
and forbids even fo much expanfive movement as 
might ilTue in a releafe from its hold. 

Confronted with this inveterate polytheifm, 
which could not be firmer in its grafp than it is, 
if indeed it were as old as its own chronology de- 
clares it to be — confronted with this Hindooifm 
there are, as reprefentative of Britifh Chriftianity 
in India, inftead of a pofitive and coherent belief, 
two irreconcileable, and, in facr, hoftile opinions, 
profefTed by thofe with whom the people of India 
come into contact ; for on the one fide there is that 
mode of feeling in matters of religion which has 
always been characteriftic of the governing clafs 
there, the men in authority, and the young men ef- 
pecially, who, as adminiftrators of the foreign rule, 
are fpread over the country, and to whom, di- 
rectly and indirectly, revenue is paid. On the 
other hand, the Hindoo mind, here and there at 
leaft, converfes with thofe whofe genuine and 



THEODOSIUS. 



fervent Chriftian feeling has brought them to 
India. Thus it is that, on the one fide, the Eu- 
ropean, the Englifh influence, is fuch as is felt to 
be fubftantially atheiftic : on the other fide, the 
fame exterior European and Englifti civilization 
fpeaks to the Hindoo mind in tones animated by a 
profound belief of whatever is emphatically Chrif- 
tian. The mere knowledge and confcioufnefs of 
fo vehement an antagonifm having place among 
thofe who have come to rule and to teach them, 
would deeply afFecT: the minds of races even lefs 
flirewd and intelligent than are the people of 
India. 

It is not— and we need to be continually cau- 
tioned againft fo great an error as to fuppofe it — ■ 
it is not as if all men individually who take their 
ftand on the one fide of the above-mentioned an- 
tagonifm were utterly irreligious, or were purely 
felfifh, and rapacious, and regardlefs of all things 
but the amaffing of fortunes. It is not fo ; for 
many of this very clafs are men of benevolence, 
and are honeftly defirous (fo long as Indian revenue 
is fafe) of governing India for the good of the 
people. Nor is it as if all men, individually, who 
take pofition on the other fide were fimple-hearted, 
and felf-denying, and ready for martyrdom : this 
is not fo. 

But whereas, at home, principles of all kinds, 
fpeculative and practical, are intermingled in every 
imaginable manner — in the promifcuous utterances 



208 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



of focial intercourfe, in public difcuffions, and in 
the literary commerce of a free people, and are 
thus foftened down, and are mitigated, and are 
ftripped of their fharpeft characteriftics ; in India, 
on the contrary, each of thefe forms of opinion 
retires from contact with its antagonifl, and it re- 
ceives an exaggerated expreffion of its meaning, 
and it comes to be uttered with a fort of emphatic 
and polemic vehemence. The two beliefs, or the 
belief and the non-belief, are feverally announced 
in the prefence of a heathenifm, fuch as is that of 
the Hindoo races, and of a fanaticifm fuch as is 
that of the growling Mahometan population. Thus 
uttered, it gathers force in the utterance. 

It is the natural and inevitable courfe of things 
that the daily fights and founds of worfhips fo foul 
and fo fanguinary as are thofe of India, mould 
aggravate, mould irritate the feelings of Chriftian 
men and (let us not forget it) of Chriftian women, 
refident in India. And while this procefs is going 
on, the very fame fights and founds take effe£i 
upon the irreligion of the irreligious — imparting 
to it a murky levity, a contemptuous virulence, of 
which all modes of feeling that relate man to a 
world unfeen are alike the objects. Mingled reafons 
of a miftaken policy, and of irreligious indifference, 
have brought high-minded Englishmen in India to 
fubmit to the humiliation of touching the hat to 
the Devil ; and in doing fo (as is the cafe in every 
inftance of a wrong conceffion to what is evil) 



THEODOSIUS. 209 

they have brought upon themfelves far more of 
native contempt, than has been compenfated by 
any gratitude they have thus earned from the 
befotted wormippers. 

Men in authority in India who, in difcharge of 
their functions, are forced into contact with Pagan 
ufages — ufages infufferably abominable, are not 
unlikely to reafon with themfelves in fome fuch 
manner as this — " Placed where I am, and cogni- 
zant of this filth — this folly, and this murder, there 
is no alternative for me but this — I muft either 
give utterance to my abhorrence and contempt, and 
then aft accordingly ; — or I muft fo deport myfelf 
as if I were fupremely indifferent to everything- — 
to everything but revenue, and the making a for- 
tune for myfelf. If I profeffed to care for juftice 
and mercy, or if I announced my belief in a 
righteous Almighty and a future judgment, I 
mould render myfelf amenable, in the view of the 
people, to principles of reafon, truth, and hu- 
manity. My part, therefore, is that of a fupercilious 
indifference ; at leaft it is fo until the day comes 
when I mall be able to fpeak and a£l fpontane- 
oufly — to fpeak and a£t as a Chriftian and as an 
Englifhman." 

Thofe who, rejecting this fort of indifference, 
might undertake to juftify a more coerfive courfe 
of condu£t on the part of a Chriftian government, 
toward the Hindoo people and their religious 
ufages, may think that they mail find a warrant for 
p 



210 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



it in the edicts and the demeanour of Conftantine 
and his fucceflbrs, as related to the expiring poly- 
theifm of their times ; but the two cafes are, as we 
have already faid, effentially unlike. And as to Con- 
ftantine himfelf, and the apparent inconfiftency of 
his a£ts 3 his ambiguous perfonal convidtions, at leaft 
during the ten years immediately fucceeding the 
public profeffion of his converfion, muft be taken 
into the account, if we are looking for an explana- 
tion of his condudl in continuing, as he did, to dif- 
penfe the cuftomary gratuities among the minifters 
of worftiips, which were ftill adhered to by large 
mafles of the Roman people — by many (or moft) 
of the wealthy and noble, and profeffedly alfo, by 
the leaders of the philofophical fe£r.s. Sacrifices on 
ftate occafions were ftill offered, and prayers were 
enjoined to be made to " them that have ears, but 
hear not." Coins were ftruck, which in device 
and in legend were polytheiftic. In the phrafe- 
ology of public documents ancient forms were re- 
tained ; for fo it is in all parallel inftances — reform 
waits long, and knocks many times at the door of 
government offices. The imperial converfion, if 
it amazed the Roman world for a moment, as a 
thunder-clap, did not blaze out upon it unclouded, 
as day does in the tropics, but crept up upon the 
fky as does the fummer morning in the mifty and 
fhowery north. 

In the courfe of a hundred and fifty years, 
reckoned on from the edicft of Milan, the ancient 



THEODOSIUS. 



worfhips were in conftant courfe of fading away : — 
they flunk out of fight ; — every year they were be- 
coming lefs and lefs the fubjedts of ferious con- 
troverfy. Thus there are meteoric conditions of 
the atmofphere, during which detached clouds are 
feen to be melting into nothing ; and if you watch 
the borders of the heavieft mafles, they are (hoot- 
ing forth limbs, which difappear while you look at 
them : — all vapours are in a ftate of rapid abforp- 
tion, until at length the clear blue prevails on all 
hands. So it was that the imperial edi£ts, through- 
out the years of the fourth century, had been anti- 
cipated, in almoft each inftance, by changes that 
had taken place in public opinion : and thefe 
changes — thefe reformations, in fa£t — were fo 
many advances toward a higher moral condition 
of the Roman world, a progrefs which muft have 
given another afpedt to European hiftory, if it had 
not, fo foon, been arretted. 

Chriftianity knows nothing of imperial edi£ts, 
or of a£r.s of Parliament ; but whenever the edids 
of a government are of a beneficial kind, and when 
alfo they are hopeful, becaufe well-timed, it is 
when and where the moral forces of the Gofpel 
have already taken efFedt throughout the focial 
mafs, and have done fo to fuch an extent as that 
reformatory laws have been called for, and are 
welcomed — perhaps they may have been impa- 
tiently demanded by the popular feeling. Each of 
the more flagrant chara&eriftics of the Greek and 



212 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



Roman polytheifm — each of thofe vicious inftitu- 
tions, and of thofe pernicious ufages which a mo- 
dern Chriftianized community would refent and 
repel with abhorrence, had come to be regarded 
as infufferable — as abominable, long before the 
moment of its prohibition by the ftate. If the in- 
trinfic moral forces of the Gofpel had not, at fo 
early a time, been firft abated by the prevalence of 
the afcetic doctrine, and then turned afide by the 
revival of the ancient polytheifm, under the guife 
of the ftirine-wormip, the incurfions of the Gothic 
hordes would not have prevailed, as they did, to 
overthrow the civilization of fouthern Europe. 

Well would it repay the labour it might colt, to 
follow, and to exhibit the progrefs of the Chriftian 
energy — regarded limply as a proteft againft the 
eftabliftied injuftices and the ritual impurities, the 
cruelties and the filthinefs of Greek and Roman 
heathenifm ! How animated, how firm, how irre- 
fiftible, was this proteft, as we catch the echoes of 
it, in liftening to the early Chriftian apologifts ! 
Truly thefe witneffes for the new faith fpake as 
the prophets of the Higheft when, in its defence, 
and in aiking for juftice — they reafoned with the 
men of their times — with philofophifts and poten- 
tates, concerning " righteoufnefs, and temperance, 
and the judgment to come." The fophifts were 
foon filenced, and profligate magnates quailed, and 
were glad to fcreen themfelves behind their mate- 
rial powers, whenever this fcorch of eternal reafon 



THEODOSIUS. 213 



was fent in upon their confcience ; they " trem- 
bled " for an hour only, but their fucceffors in the 
next age, gave way, and acknowledged, in the 
Chriftian teacher, the authentic fervant of God. 

Thus was it until the time when the Chriftian 
advocate betrays his confcioufnefs that he and his 
colleagues, in carrying forward their controversy 
with the patrons of the ancient fuperftitions, had 
abandoned their vantage ground, and had them- 
felves come to take a pofition near to that of the 
apologift of the gods, and where they had much to 
do to defend what was fo utterly indefenfible. 
Clear, bold, and connftent in principle, were the 
early apologifts, fuch as J uftin Martyr, Athena- 
goras, Minucius Felix, Origen, Tertullian, Arno- 
bius, in their maintenance of their own part, and 
in their affaultupon the abfurd demon-worfhips of 
the Gentiles, and upon its immoralities : — all thus 
far was right, and well thefe champions knew that 
there was no room for gainfaying — there was no 
flaw in their plea. But not fo was it with their 
fucceffors, the Chriftian apologifts of the following 
century. Ambrofe, Bafil, Chryfoftom, the Gre- 
gories, and, alas ! Auguftine, had waded knee-deep 
into the mire of fuperftition, and they were not 
unconfcious of the moral humiliation to which 
they had yielded themfelves. How poorly, for 
inftance, does Auguftine maintain his ftanding 
when affailed by a Pagan fchoolmafter of his dio- 
cefe ; to what pitiful fliifts does he refort ! or, to 



214 



ESSATS, ETC. 



follow the courfe of things another centurv fur- 
ther, we may look into the orations of John Da- 
mafcenus — nspi raig aylaig slxovai; — and then read, 
if we have patience, the decrees of the fecond 
Council of Nice ! It was not a Chriftianity fo 
diluted as was that of the fixth and feventh cen- 
turies, that could keep alive the moral energies 
of the mafs of the people, and therefore all were 
foon to be trampled on by Goths, Vandals, Sara- 
cens. 

We have juft now faid that the acts of the 
Roman emperors, in aiming at the fuppreffion of 
Paganifm, will not furnifh precedents for the guid- 
ance of a Chriftian government, at this time, in 
dealing with the polytheifm of the conquered races 
of India. The inftances are not, in any fenfe, 
parallel \ the nations, the ancient and the modern, 
are in wholly different conditions, moral and intel- 
lectual ; and the relation of the government to- 
ward the people is effentially different. Never- 
thelefs human nature is ever the fame, and therefore 
there is a leffon to be gathered from each chapter 
of the hiftory of the human family. The propen- 
fion of the human mind toward a religion of many 
divinities, male and female, is one of the moft 
conftant of its tendencies ; and the inftances in 
which, for any length of time, a higher direction 
has been given to the religious inftinct, and a pure 
theology has been refolutely maintained, are rare 
indeed. We maybe quite fure that this tendency will 



THEODOSIUS. 215 

ever and again fhow itfelf. A people, fully taught 
in the firft and greateft of all truths, holds to its 
profeffion of it, fhall we fay, through three genera- 
tions, or through five ? The Jewifh people, 
from the time of their return to their land, have, 
in this one fenfe, been found faithful to their vo- 
cation ; but it has been under conditions fo excep- 
tional as to remove the inftance from its place as 
pertinent in any argument. The Chriftianized 
nations of fouthern Europe had relapfed, very ge- 
nerally, into polytheifm before five generations 
had paffed away. At this moment the populace 
throughout the fame areas, Eaft and Weft, are 
hopelefily addicted to practices which differ in 
name only, and in coftume, from the paganifm 
of their remoteft anceftors. 

How, then, mall it be in India ? In India, as 
to the relation of the people to the government, 
everything is, and muft long be, if not for ever — 
anomalous — out of harmony with all theory — ex- 
ceptional, as to the entire courfe of ordinary hiftory. 
Governed from a remote centre, by a race utterly 
alien and abhorrent to its own, conquered and 
held in fubjection by nothing but fteel, or if by 
aught elfe, by films of moral influence > governed, 
if not with an exclufive, yet with a conftant and 
fovereign regard to the annual fifcal refult — 
India muft, under conditions fo ftrange (always 
fuppofing the continuance of the Britifh fu- 
premacy) and more and more fo, it muft ftand as 



2l6 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



a paradox, in the large volume of human expe- 
riences. 

Who, then, {hall venture to predict the future 
of India when this paradox is to work out its folu- 
tion upon a field whereupon is aflembled a fifth, 
or a feventh part, of the human family ? But if 
the India of ten years hence defies all fagacity to 
forefee it, neverthelefs, if we choofe to aflume the 
permanence of the Britifh fupremacy there, then 
— and this contingence being the datum of our con- 
jectural hypothefis — then there are fome refults of 
the reaction of India upon England which may be 
forefeen with a degree of certainty. No one will 
fay that ten years hence the Ganges and the Indus 
fhall float red uniforms from their mouths to their 
fources, but if we grant this fact, then we may 
predict for England itfelf a mighty refult, deeply 
affecting whatever, among ourfelves, is of the 
higheft importance. 

It does not come within the province of the 
writer of this Eflay to fpeak of " exports and im- 
ports," and " revenue," or the like ; but he may 
fpeak of thofe revolutions in the world of thought 
and action which outweigh revenue, and which 
are of more enduring confequence than the main- 
tenance of empires. 

Reaction, in any cafe, will, as to its intenfity 
and its extent, be directly as the fpeed and the fre- 
quency of the intercourfe between countries, or 
nations. In all times, known to hiftory, the Eaftern 



THEODOSIUS. 217 



world and the Weftern, have interchanged influ- 
ences — the Weft acting upon the Eaft, the Eaft 
reacting upon the Weft. In each of thefe inftances 
while the obvious, and the noify, and the tangible 
part of this intercourfe has been that of the Weft 
upon the Eaft — fuch, to wit, as the conquefts of 
Alexander, the Crufades, the Portuguefe, the 
French, the Britifh fettlements and conquefts — 
the deep, the filent, the enduring part of the fame 
intercourfe has been the reaction of the Eaft upon 
the political conftitutions, upon the focial equili- 
briums, of the nations of Europe, and upon their 
arts and commerce, upon their philofophy,and their 
habits of thought. So it is likely to be in the in- 
ftance before us, England acts upon India ; and 
the nations, its European competitors, admire, and 
wonder, and grudge, at the fpectacle of fuch va- 
lour, and of fuch energy, and of fuch fuccefs ! But 
meantime, as always it has been heretofore, during 
the lapfe of five and twenty centuries — India is 
reacting upon the dominant race ; it is doing fo 
filently, irrefiftibly, and with a deep-going force, 
a force of that kind which, while it befpeaks the 
prefence of the Almighty, puts contempt upon the 
interference of man. 

It may be well, for a moment, to bring into 
view the inftantaneoufnefs and the vital activity 
of that intercourfe which, at this moment, is linking 
England with India — that umbelical cord through 
which the circulation, to and fro, is going on. Re- 



2l8 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



cent events have thrown India in upon hundreds 
of Englifh homes with a force and a meaning the 
intenfity of which will not foon be fpent. India, 
its fites and its fcenes, its coftumes and manners, 
its material fplendours, and its real horrors, have 
become terribly familiar to the imagination of be- 
reaved parents and fitters in all focial circles. So 
much nearer to us is India, in thought and fym- 
pathy ! And the fame courfe of events, adding, as 
it does, a new ftimulus to the mechanical marvels 
of locomotion, is fhortening, continually, the inter- 
vals of correfpondence, fo that, inftead of months, 
we are getting to compute the diftance by weeks — 
lately — now by days ; — and ere long it will be by 
hours, perhaps by minutes ! There is Calcutta 
news ! how recent is it? 12 at noon, Greenwich 
time, and this is 12.30. 

Our fympathies and moral emotions, not often 
unreafonable, are unreafoning moft often. Why 
fhould they be liable to fo much abatement from 
incidental differences of fpace and time ? We 
cannot well fay how or why it is fo, but yet it is : 
a calamity, a horror, an injuftice — when and where 
has it befallen the fufferers ? — and are thefe fufferers 
our deareft relatives ? — was it on the other fide 
of the globe ? — was it a year ago ? Nay, it was in 
the next ftreet, and it was yefternight ! Nearnefs in 
time and place is the condition of intenfe emotion ; 
and thus it is that the railway and the ele&ric 
wire are now becoming the nerves of fenfation 



THEODOSIUS. 219 



and the nerves of volition throughout the world. 
It is time, then, that the doers of wrong, and the 
perpetrators of cruelties, ftiould look to themfelves, 
for, remote as may be the corners where their 
crimes are done, what they are about will perhaps 
be known and publifhed in every capital of the 
civilized world before the fun is hot of the next 
day ! 

It is, then, with this fort of inftantaneoufnefs 
that the things of India, henceforward, (hall react 
upon England ; and it is at this fame fpeed that the 
public opinion of England fhall make itfelf known, 
the next hour, in India. What, then, muft enfue ? 
Juft this, that India, whether converted to Chrif- 
tianity, or not converted, and whether governed by 
Chriftian men or by fecularifts, fhall feel that it 
muft amend its ufages, and that it muft learn to be 
afhamed of what it has been during thefe four thou- 
fand years or more. 

The Pagan ufages of India, beginning with thofe 
that are of the deepeft atrocity, and going on to 
thofe which, in lefs degrees, are offenfive to the 
Englifh eye and ear, muft now give way — not as 
did thofe of the Greek and Roman polytheifm, 
which flowly yielded to a vital movement from 
within the fame focial body, but by an exterior force, 
and becaufe of their infufferable proximity to a 
higher civilization — that of Europe — that of Eng- 
land. The nearnefs of India to England, by fteam 
navigation, by rail, and by the electric wire, and 



220 



ESSATS, ETC. 



by the increafing frequency of intercourfe, and 
by the incefTant coming and going, and by the 
lengthy correfpondence which is now permeating 
all domeftic circles, thefe things have the efFeft of 
bringing the Hindoo abominations clofe under our 
drawing-room windows, as nuifances that are not 
to be endured : there will be an outcry to fweep 
them away. 

Not the moft determined of our non-inter- 
ference ftatefmen would now find it poffible to 
arreft this reformatory procefs ; much lefs could he 
dare to licenfe anew the religious murders, and 
the burnings, and the tortures which already have 
been interdicted. As things now are, to revive 
fuch doings would fet our Englifh homes on fire, 
would hurl public men from their pofition, would 
raife tornadoes in Exeter Hall, and in every pro- 
vincial hall, from end to end of the country. " Our 
Indian fellow-fubjects" muft learn to be as pious 
as they pleafe, fliort of murder. 

What is it, then, that will be taking place in 
the courfe of this arbitrary and externally-wrought 
reformation ? It is well to confider fuch a quef- 
tion. How bright an anticipation would it be if 
we might believe that, in thus removing the fuper- 
ficial hideoufnefs of the demon-worfliips of India, 
we (hall be penetrating the fubftance, and that we 
fhall thus diflodge the demon ! No fuch hope as 
this is warranted by the hiftory of thofe nations that 
have been habituated to polytheifm through long 



THEODOSIUS. 221 



ages. So happy an event may indeed come about, 
who mall deny it ; but another courfe of things is 
far more probable. As to the few — thofe of the na- 
tives who are the afpirants to Englifh culture, and 
to whom, in colleges, we are opening wide the por- 
tals of fcientific atheifm — the cafe of fuch demands 
a feparate confederation ; but as to the maffes of the 
Hindoo population, they are undergoing a foften- 
ing, a breaking up of the horrific cruft of their 
ancient fuperftitions. The Hindoo children of 
this prefent time, from the mere privation of in- 
human fpe&acles, and from the non-occurrence 
in their highways of exhibitions the fight of 
which is moral perdition, thefe are in a courle of 
paflive training for — what ? is it for Chriftianity ? 
May it pleafe God to bring about fuch an end ! 
But we mould prepare ourfelves to expect a far 
lefs welcome confequence ; — and this, which is 
the more probable event, and which is likely to 
(how itfelf in a few years, or when the youth of 
India reaches early manhood, is — the wide and 
rapid fubftitution of a mild and bloodlefs polythe- 
ifm, in the place of that of which the people of India 
will have become afliamed — taught, as we are 
teaching them, to look at their ancient atrocities 
with European eyes. 

The people of India, weaned from fuch things, 
will be looking around in queft of gods and god- 
deffes — kind interceflbrs, who mail look down 
upon them from pedeftals in their ftreets, and mall 



222 



ESSATS, ETC. 



fmile, and mow, in their attitude, and in their 
tranquil vifages, that which loft human nature 
fo earneftly yearns for — propitious fupernatural 
power, quite near at hand, and offered to the eye 
and touch. 

Who is it, then, that (hall now r come forward at 
this filent invitation ? Who is it that mail bring be- 
fore the late worfhippers of Brahma, Vifhnu, and 
Siva, a fmiling Mother with infant in arms, both of 
them nimbus-crowned, and proclaimed in all tho- 
roughfares as " Queen of Heaven, Queen of angels, 
and the Fountain of Grace to every fuppliant ?" 
Nor would this divinity hold her celeftial court 
unattended, for thoufands of gracious and open- 
handed mediators are ranged around her, to right 
and left, and each has his or her peculiarity of aid 
or favour to beftow. Thy ancient gods, O India, 
were beings of favage mood, they were ftubborn in 
temper and vindictive, and hard to be placated ; 
but thefe are propitious ; they are all loving and in- 
dulgent ; nor are they ftricT: as toward human frail- 
ties, yet are they themfelves pure as the azure fky, 
and free from every taint of earth : kneel to thefe ! 
— addrefs your fupplications to thefe ! 

It was a tranfmutation very nearly refembling 
this, and yet apparently lefs probable, under the 
circumftances, which, taking place as it did during 
the lapfe of the fourth and three following cen- 
turies, gave to the fouthern European nations the 
polytheifm which ftill holds bound all of them 



THEODOSIUS. 223 



whofe foil had been thoroughly faturated with the 
ancient worfhips — with the Greek and the Roman 
polytheifm. Proteftantifm has expelled the Roman 
Catholic polytheifm from thofe countries only in 
which the claffic polytheifm had obtained not more 
than a brief term of occupation. 

But as to India, its foil is rank and rich in pre- 
paration for fuftaining a bright-coloured and gor- 
geous worfhip, fuch as is that which undoubtedly 
will now be offered to the acceptance of its mil- 
lions. 

How difficult is it to fpeak and write, and to 
read too, otherwife than polemically upon fubje£r.s 
which are ftill warmly controverted among our- 
felves ! But now in thefe pages the writer and 
the reader are fuppofed to be ftanding afide from 
the noify world, and to be quit of their prejudices. 
Be it fo underftood, and moreover, let us affume 
that, while intending no offence to our neighbour, 
we muft hold faft our perfonal convi£tions, and 
efpecially that we dare not, at the prompting of a 
fa&itious courtefy, or of a falfe-hearted liberalifm, 
defpife the requirements, either of common fenfe, 
or of religions confiftency. 

Now then for our point. Take the inftance of 
a devout and well-inftrucied member of the Roman 
Catholic Church. We fay an inftrufted member, 
and not only fo, but one who is furrounded alfo 
with the Bible atmofphere and the Bible light of 
a free Proteftant country. To fuch a one, and 



224 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



efpecially if he or me takes the difcreet and the 
pious Alban Butler as his (or her) guide, it may be 
practicable, we dare not fay it will be eafy, to un- 
derftand, and always to obferve, the diftinction 
which excufes him from the imputation of idolatry, 
or of polytheifm, while he catches hold of the 
alleged difference between — reverential regard, the 
hyper-reverential regard, and the proper religious 
worfhip, which laft alone is to be offered to the 
Supreme Being. We grant you all the benefit 
you can any way derive from thefe nice diftinc- 
tions : hold tight to the difference, if there be any, 
the next time when vou bow the knee in front 
of an image, or a picture, and, looking upward, 
you utter your petition. You tell us that you 
" honour God in His faints, " and that your par- 
ticular and favourite faint hears your prayer " in 
God," and fo forth. We purfue you not on this 
perilous ground, for in treading this lava-cruft we 
could not keep the eye from peering in between 
the crevices where we mould fee the fiery crim- 
fon flood, that awful deluge which, long ago 
vomited up from the nether world, has, through 
thoufands of years, fpread itfelf over trie nations, to 
their ruin. 

Let common fenfe give way as far as is poffible 
to charity, and then utter itfelf aloud without re- 
ferve. Have we ever flood as the lookers-on in 
thofe countries where the Roman Catholic worfhip 
has always been the religion of the maffes of the 



THEODOSIUS. 225 



people, where it has been liable to no rebuke, to 
no reprehenfion, and where the people, the higher 
and the lower, have never been challenged to be- 
think themfelves of their religious ufages ? Stretch 
a charitable hypothecs to its extreme limit, and 
then afk — as to the proftrate crowd of worfhip- 
pers, encircling the image of a favourite faint, and 
addreffing to it their fervent entreaties for grace 
and fuccour — afk what now becomes of the dif- 
tinCtion between the dulia, and the hyper-dulia, 
and the latria ? To thefe befotted devotees it is, 
as if it were not ; nor does the religion of the mafs 
of the people otherwife differ from that of their 
remoteft anceftors — than fo far as is implied in the 
chara&eriftics that are attributed to their divinities 
feverally. If common fenfe be liftened to, and if a 
fearlefs regard be had to confpicuous fa<?ts, then 
we muft aflent to this conclufion — that though the 
names are not the fame, and though rites have 
undergone a change, the idol-worftiip and the poly- 
theifm are, in every other fenfe, the fame. 

That fubftitution of a mild polytheifm for a 
polytheifm that is fierce, vindictive, impure, and 
horrific, is the revolution which the courfe of 
events may fpeedily bring about in India. It mail 
ftartle many among us by the fuddennefs of its 
commencement, by the rapidity of its progrefs, 
and by the univerfality of its triumphs. 

Are we intending — or fhould we be able, if in- 
tending it — to bolt the door againft the now-coming 



226 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



St. Francis Xavier, and his train of devoted mi- 
nifters ? We dare not attempt this. Spite of us he 
will let his foot upon the India which we have juft 
now conquered for him. He will bear aloft the 
mod attractive fymbols ; — he will be copious and 
eloquent in his commendations of the " Queen of 
Heaven ! — Mother of Mercy ! Does (he not clafp 
the infant Saviour of the world in her graceful 
arms, and mall not the Mother prevail with the 
Son ? And we who now bring to you the glad 
tidings of a new difpenfation, we are not of the 
hated Saxon race that has conquered India ; we 
are not of the fame blood as your oppreffors : we 
abhor their deeds of violence, we denounce their 
impieties ; it is we who are to you the meffengers 
of mercy, and of nothing elfe." 

What is now to be done to ftay a Chriftianizing 
of India in this manner by the minifters of Rome ? 
Shall the Englim Church take it patiently, and 
ftand afide ? Not if Englifhmen are what hitherto 
they have been. But is there not a middle courfe 
open before us, which it would be wife to follow r 
" May we not forfend the fucceffes of our rivals by 
adopting their principles and ufmg their means of 
influence, by taking in hand their tools, by putting 
in pra£tice their maxims for gaining the multitude ? 
May we not denounce Rome aloud, and yet learn 
of her in fecret ? We may draw off from her when- 
ever we encounter her on the highway, but yet may 
call her in to teach us her craft in the clofet. Let 



THEODOSIUS. 



but the Epifcopal Church of England retrace the 
miftaken fteps fhe has taken thefe three centuries 
pail, and then, as thus reformed by retrogreffion, 
(he will renew her ftrength, and find it an eafy tafk 
to Chriftianize India, even as St. Auftin, advifed 
by Pope Gregory, Chriftianized England." 

This we may be fure of, that, in taking any fuch 
courfe as this, the Church of England would at 
once forfeit the fupport and favour of that clafs of 
public men without whofe fupport thefe very mea- 
fures muft fail of fuccefs. The philofophic and 
the indifferent, the "non-interference" ftatefmen, 
who rule India, if they faw the Hindoo people 
crowding, by fifty thoufand at a time, around the 
modern St. Francis Xavier, and receiving baptifm 
at his hands in uncounted groups, and taking up 
with a religion which would be fpoken of as " well 
adapted to their moral and intellectual condition," 
would hail the event with undiffembled fatisfaction. 
Thus feeling, they would frown upon the endea- 
vour to fplit the difference, or to tamper with fo 
defirable a procefs. Shall it be that, " for the fake 
of we know not what nice diftinctions, be they 
metaphyfical, or theological, or eccleiiaftical — we 
care not what they are — you are wifhing to arreft 
the courfe of a reform which will be brought about 
by your rivals in a far better manner, and more 
fpeedily, than it can be by yourfelves \ in a word, 
you need not doubt that we mail lend ourfelves to 
their endeavours, and not to yours." Thus, con- 



228 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



fiftently with their indifference towards religions 
of all kinds, will a certain clafs of ftatefmen reafon. 

It muft be as animated by another principle, 
and moved on by another zeal, and infpired by 
another hope, and governed by another rule, that 
the Church of England (and other communions 
with her) mall henceforward perform their deftined 
part in India. The collifion and the conflict be- 
tween Romanifm and the Church of England in 
India, which can fcarcely fail to follow in the 
track of recent events, will throw each anew upon 
that which is its characleriftic principle. The 
reaftion of this new movement in India, upon 
Romanifm at its centre, and upon our Proteftant 
communions in England, may give an unexpe£ted 
afpe£t to the Chriftianity of Europe, and may di- 
vorce anew the nations. 

Once and again, in modern times, the propaga- 
tion enterprifes of the Romifh Church have drawn 
its minifters onward toward the mo ft dangerous 
extremes of compromife with Pagan ufages. The 
authorities at Rome have been fcandalized and 
alarmed, and have been compelled to difown thefe 
ambiguous doings. But at prefent the temptation 
to follow in the fame track^ in India, will be far 
greater than ever it has been, and will be yielded 
to. The Romifh Church has a rich and vaft 
region in view, over which it may now fpread its 
eafy triumphs ; and it may do this under the very 
eye, and by the aid of its rival and enemy : it may 



THEODOSIUS. 229 

fpread itfelf from fide to fide of the Peninfula, none 
daring to make it afraid. The government pledges 
itfelf for its protection, as a matter of principle, and 
as a rule of policy too. Who, then, mall ftay its 
courfe ? 

This courfe, if purfued in bringing about the 
converfion of the nations of Hinduftan, muft be 
regarded, not merely as a dangerous and unwar- 
rantable conceffion to polytheiftic notions and 
practices, but it will be found to demand a deeper 
and an always deepening falfenefs, and fpurioufnefs, 
and hollownefs of pretenfion, and, in a word, a 
univerfal untruthfulness, as between the minif- 
ters of religion and the maffes of the people. But 
untruthfulnefs toward man brings with it a fearing 
of the confcience, and then follows the darkeft 
and the moft ominous of all crimes — the living a 
lie in the confronted prefence of Almighty God. 

In tracing up feparately, to its obfcure origin, 
in remote times, each of the characteriftic dogmas 
and practices of the Romifh Church (and the fame 
nearly is true of the Eaftern Church) no ftretch 
of charity will fuffice to ward off the feemingly 
harm conclufion that fome fraud, practifed by the 
minifters of religion upon the people, and intended, 
perhaps, for their benefit — was its germ. And 
thus, as we follow the natural development of 
errors down the turbid ftream of time, the fame 
impreffion becomes ftronger and more diftinct at 
every ftage— -fpurioufnefs, fabrication, falfenefs, as 



230 ESSAYS, ETC. 

between the minifters of religion and the people ; 
this is the continuous and the growing charac- 
terise of each ftage of the procefs, which at length 
matures a fmall fiction into the giant dimenfions of 
an enormous lie. How can the moft candid and 
philofophically-tranquil reader of the original docu- 
ments of Romim Church hiftory defend himfelf 
from this conclufion — that untruthfulness to- 
ward the people, and an impious contempt of the 
awful majefty of God, have ever been the law and 
the reafon of Romanifm. 

There can be no need to put to Chriftian men, 
or to Englifhmen, the queftion — By what means, 
or on what principle, mould Romim fuperftitions 
be met on the plains of India, or in China r Do 
we not fear God ? Do we not abhor lying, and 
fcorn fabrications ? Do we not hold in utter con- 
tempt the quirks and the tricks of the furpliced 
charlatan ? Yes, and we are prepared to take 
patiently the defeat of our endeavours to fpread 
the Gofpel in the Eaft, rather than exult in eafy 
triumphs which we might achieve by impious fal- 
fities — by pompous and gorgeous quackeries, or 
by a prurient practicing with a fenfual race, in 
the dark. But if, indeed, there be any among us 
who are otherwife minded than thus, then an appeal 
might well be made to them on the fuppofition 
that there is an honeft ounce of Anglo-Saxon blood 
yet curdling about their hearts. To fuch we fay — 
Be honeft at leaft thus far. Enlift yourfelves at 



THEODOSIUS. 



once as minifters of the Pantheon ; there you will 
ftand in no falfe pofition, and all the fervices re- 
quired of you fhall be to your mind : nothing will 
there be done by halves, and there, if confcience 
does not upbraid you, no other upbraidings fhall 
trouble your future courfe. 

The work that has henceforward to be done by 
honeft and Chriftian-hearted men in India, and in 
China, is of a new order, and it is incomparably 
more arduous than hitherto (or at all in modern 
times) Chriftian minifters have been called to en- 
gage in. It is a work for which no fufficient pre- 
paration has been made, either within the enclo- 
fures of the Englifh Epifcopal Church, or among 
the communions around it. But it has this one 
aufpicious prognoftic : — the work is fuch that it 
will create the men who are to do it, and the 
work, once engaged in, will train them for their 
duty. 

But if it were afked, what is there in the prefent 
pofition, or in the afpe£t of affairs in India, or in 
China, which differs much from the now well- 
underftood conditions of the miffionary enterprife, 
all the world over ? the reply might be of this fort : 
— The Chriftianity of England will henceforward 
have to maintain itfelf, and to make progrefs, as it 
ftands related firft — to the ancient paganifm — fe- 
condly, to the Chriftianized paganifm of Rome, 
thirdly— to European atheifm ; and then — as related 
to thefe three, in their prefent peculiar condition 



232 ESSAYS, ETC. 



of coalefcence and of tacit compromife, the iffue 
being a combination of elements that is too inti- 
mate and too natural, to be broken up otherwife 
than by the power and mercy of Heaven, fpecially 
put forth. But when we fay this, the practical 
inference is the fame as it would be if, as in rela- 
tion to purely fecular interefts, everything de- 
pended upon our (kill, induftry, fagacity, and fore- 
cafting of the probable courfe of events. The 
courfe of events throughout the Eaftern world 
will not fail to be fuch as mail call up a new clafs 
of men — in Europe (may we fay it) in Britain — 
to meet it ; and thus, the reaction of the Eaft upon 
the Weft will be more remarkable than is the 
adlion of the Weft upon the Eaft. 



ESSAY VI. 

yulian : Prohibitive Education. 

FOREMOST place in the Greek 
literature and philofophy of his times 
would probably have been affigned to 
Flavius Claudius Julianus, if it had 
not been his misfortune to become mafter of the 
Roman world. As one of the ableft, and the beft 5 
and the pureft in intention, and the moft humane, of 
the Roman emperors, he would, with equal proba- 
bility, have been accounted, if nature and induftry 
had not previoufly made him an accomplifhed man 
of letters, and a devoted intelledlualift. And yet 
even fo, a fort of " double firft " diftinction might 
have been awarded him by pofterity if, in combining 
the two orders of merit— that of a philofopher and 
that of a ruler, he had not committed that one blun- 
der which the vindi&ive church writers of his time 
have mifcalled his "apoftacy." As a philofopher 
only, according to the modes of thinking that were 
prevalent at Athens while he enjoyed the compa- 
nionfhip of Gregory Nazianzen, Bafil, and other 
bright-witted and " faft " young men of that bab- 




234 ESSJTS, ETC. 



bling place, he would never have troubled himfeli 
with the bootlefs endeavour to reftore the fuper- 
annuated paganifm of Greece : or, as ftatefman 
only, and with the Roman world at his feet, and 
himfelf, at an early time in his courfe, poffeffed of 
a well-earned military reputation, Julian would 
better have underftood his fituation, and would 
wifely have left the fierce religionifts around him 
to fettle their differences as they could, and to 
prevail as they might feverally againft the waning 
fuperftitions of the populace. But it was not fo ; 
for the philofopher, prompted and moved from his 
equanimity by the refentments, and by the virtuous 
difgufts of the man, mifadvifed the emperor, and 
thus it was that, in a fullen heat, he threw off his 
Chriftian profeffion, and proclaimed anew the 
claflic fables, as if he thought that the imperial 
lungs might breathe truth and life into the dead 
mythologies ! 

The meafures he purfued, in his brief courfe, 
for depreffing and degrading the Chriftian com- 
munity, and for lifting paganifm from out of the 
abyfs into which it was faft finking, were of that 
order which is likely to recommend itfelf to public 
men who, having fhone at college, and coming, in 
early manhood, to mix themfelves with the affairs 
of an empire, bring with them bits and rendings of 
their academic whims — their theories, their corol- 
laries, and their crotchets. It is your academic 
men, frefh from Athens, even the brighteft and 



JULIAN, 235 

the beft of them, that go on blundering and blun- 
dering, as ftatefmen, until the world is fairly fick 
of their failures. 

Nobody, fays this philofophic Caefar, mall have 
ground of complaint ; henceforward all religions 
are tolerated throughout the empire. This was 
fo far well ; but it was not well, nor was it con- 
fiftent with a truly-intended toleration, that the 
Chriftian party mould be called upon to defray the 
cofts of reftoring the demolifhed pagan temples, 
much lefs that they mould have been compelled 
to " do the repairs " with their own hands, unlefs, 
indeed, where u Catholic mobs " had done the 
mifchief. In thefe meafures there was an obvious 
injuftice ; but in other means reforted to by Julian 
for more covertly achieving his purpofe, namely, 
the ruin of the Chriftian community, there was as 
real an injuftice, cloaked under a femblance of fair 
dealing. You Chriftians, faid he, denounce our 
claflic authors — our poets, orators, philofophers, as 
the promulgators of the moft grievous errors ; — to 
you they are the teachers of falfe opinions concern- 
ing the gods ; by your own ftiowing, therefore, 
we do you no wrong, we inflict upon you no da- 
mage, if we deny you altogether the ufe and perufal 
of them. You have your own books, you have 
your traits, homilies, and treatifes, and what not : 
be content with thefe, let thefe, in future, be your 
only fchool-books : — in a word, we prohibit the 
reading of the poets, the orators, and the drama- 
tifts of Greece, in your colleges. 



236 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



SECTION I. 

THUS we have before us the earlieft, perhaps, 
of a feries of experiments for realizing what 
might be called Prohibitive Education. This 
firft experiment failed, in every fenfe ; and it muft 
have failed, even if its aftute originator had lived 
and reigned till the end of the century. He did not 
live long enough to be convinced of his miftake in 
rejecting his brother's advice — to adhere to the 
religion in which he had been trained. Gallus 
urged him to liften to the Homeric injunction — 
/S^aa' ovrcog — on the higher grounds of abftraft 
truth ; but he might well have followed it, as his 
fafeft ftate policy. There was nothing in the 
waning paganifm which could be fubftantial enough 
for fuftaining the mighty movements of the empire 
after once thofe movements had found their ful- 
crum in the Chriftian verities. It is thus that men 
of the pedantic ciafs misjudge the relative "ftrength 
of materials" when they are called up to move 
forward from univerfities to council chambers. 
Julian's notions of the claffic divinities were, 
perhaps, an undefined and unexamined compound 
of elements, among which might be difcovered a 
fomething from Plato, a fomething from Plutarch, 
a fomething from Lucian, and all attempered as 



JULIAN. 237 

Athenaeus would have cooked it — fit for the taftes 
of the evening party. But he did not underftand 
that, though the fceptre of the Roman world 
might, even in that late age, have been again 
firmly held in the grafp of a confident pagan ftoic 
— an Antoninus — or a religious theorift, of high 
perfonal qualities, all things would be put upon 
the tremble, when it was feen that the flieer non- 
fenfe of the claffic paganifm was to be re-enacted 
from the imperial throne. 

We have juft now called it a femblance^ but in 
truth there is more than a fhow of moderation and 
reafon in thofe epiftles wherein Julian announces 
his determination concerning the "Galilaean feet." 
Much to the advantage of this " apoftate" would 
it be to place thefe letters by the fide of thofe of 
Innocent III, in which he moves the king and the 
magnates of France to exterminate the heretics of 
Languedoc ! or, again, thofe of St. Bernard, ad- 
drefied, with a fimilar intention, to his pupil Eu- 
genius III ; or of fome fire-and-halter-breathing 
trails of much later date, not only Romifh, but 
Proteftant alfo. 

The emperor will permit no violences to be 
perpetrated ; there mall be no perfecutions on the 
fcore of religion ; and the exiled bimops mall be 
recalled. Is it Julian, " the apoftate," or is it our 
Oliver Cromwell, who fays : — " If men are in 
error, if they be ignorant and unreafonable, what 
we mould do is to teach, but not to punifh them?" 



238 ESSJTS, ETC. 

— kou yap, oifJLai, SiSatrxEtv, aKX oux) xohx^siv xpv 
Tovg avovrovg. None mould be liable to fuffer in 
perfon, goods, or reputation, on any fuch account 
as his religious perfuafion, nor be compelled to 
enter a temple. This premifed, then let men be 
required to a£l confiftently with their own profef- 
fions. I fhall demand this. If our ftandard au- 
thors are, as you fay, fo many fources of error in 
relation to the moft momentous principles, you 
teachers of Chriftianity ought to have nothing to 
do with them. Why wifh to employ them in 
your fchools ? How is it ? Homer, Hefiod, De- 
mofthenes, Herodotus, Thucydides, Ifocrates, 
Lyfias — thefe great men — held the gods in high 
efteem, as the fources of true knowledge ; is it 
not, then, intolerable that men, with the fame 
breath, mould expound thefe authors, and rail at the 
gods whom they worfhipped ? This fhall not be : 
— I will it otherwife. You muft make your choice : 
abftain from thefe authors altogether ; or if you 
will have them, teach as they taught. There is 
your Matthew — there is your Luke — expound 
thefe in your fchools. 

The Chriftian catechift might go on with his 
Bible clafs ; but it is not required of him that he 
mould expound Holy Scripture in any other 
manner than that in which he, and his predeceffors 
had been ufed to expound them now thefe two 
hundred years. And in what mode was this ? 
We have ample means for obtaining a reply to 



JULIAN. 239 

this queftion. We have before us famples enough 
of the biblical exegefis of the fecond century, and 
of the third, and of the fourth. There is barely a 
remains of the Chriftian literature of the centuries 
preceding the time of Julian's edict which does 
not flaow that to allow the Chriftian teacher of 
thofe times to expound his " Matthew and his 
Luke " in his own manner — in his accuftomed 
manner, and then to deny him his Homer, his 
Hefiod, and the reft, was to take a courfe as nu- 
gatory and as abfurd, as it was defpotic. 

Julian iffued his edict in a petulant mood ; he 
might have feen that the attempt to unmind the 
Chriftian world at that time was as impracticable 
as was the endeavour to give life and dignity to 
the puppet-paganifm of the paft age. A ftill more 
comprehenfive — or, as we mould now fay, a more 
philofophic — apprehenfion of the tendency of 
things around him, was beyond the range of a 
man like this emperor. He did not underftand 
his age : few men do underftand that one page of 
hiftory upon which their own doings are in courfe 
of being recorded. At all times, or in all times of 
movement and progrefs, it is inevitable that, among 
the feveral forces which are then in action, the 
greater force draws around itfelf, and carries with 
it, in its orbit, the leffer forces that may be near it. 
The brighter light will outfhine and abforb the 
leffer lights. The more intenfe energy will take 
up, and aflimilate, the weaker energies. Put the 



240 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



mind-world in ftrenuous agitation, and then what- 
foever has already fpent its momentum, muft obey 
the new impulfe. 

Now when we, of this time, with perhaps our 
narrow habits of thought, and our ftereotype reli- 
gious taftes, look into the Chriftian literature of 
the early ages, we find what it is a wearinefs to 
read, what is diftafteful, what we difallow ; and 
much alfo which we think to be very much out 
of place : — and fo it is. But there is another fide 
of the fubjecl:. The Chriftian verities — truths 
high, and bright, and full of power, had come in 
upon the exhaufted mind — upon the reafon, and 
upon the feeling, of the great commonwealth of 
the nations, that were then embraced in the Roman 
empire. To this fpent Mind it had imparted a new 
life the intellect, long gone aftray, had been called 
back to a path of confecutive thought: — the moral 
fenfe had woke up from its trance : — the Paralytic 
had fprung upon his feet, " leaping, and walking, 
and praifing God and he had demonftrated the 
reality of his recovery by taking up the bed where- 
upon he had lain for three centuries or more, and 
carrying it to his home on his moulders. 

What, then, is our interpretation of the feeming 
pedantry of the early Chriftian writers ? It is 
juft this — the human fpirit, awake, alive, and in 
power, was, in thofe times, depafturing itfelf in the 
fat levels of the Greek literature : — it was taking 
to itfelf, with a new affimilative appetite, the 



JUL UN. 



241 



aliment it found there. The Mind of that age had 
liftened to the challenge from on high : " Awake 
thou that fleepeft, and arife from the dead, and 
Chrift (hall give thee life." So it was : this awak- 
ening had fully come ; this refurrection had actually 
taken place ; and how ftiould it be otherwife than 
that nourimment fhould be fought for on all fides, 
and affimilated ? Too late, by at leaft a hundred 
and fifty years — was it for the imperial edict to take 
effect in any fenfe whatever : too late to afk the 
Chriftian teacher to abjure his mental identity, to 
throw away his intellectual wealth ; or to put off, 
if he could, his reafon, his imagination, his feeling, 
his taftes ! 

What are the facts, if we look at them in a more 
exact manner? The Chriftian writers and teachers 
of the third and fourth centuries had, by their in- 
duftry, their intelligence, and by the vitality of the 
body to which they belonged, come into the pofi- 
tion of refiduary legatees of the mental eftate of 
ancient Greece. As to any practical purpofes, there 
were then no furviving claimants of the property ; 
or, if we may ufe another figure, we might fay, as 
to the intellectual inheritance heretofore in the 
occupation of polytheifts, it was " an encumbered 
eftate," from which the nominal proprietors could 
obtain no rents, and for the improvement of 
which they had no funds in hand. The new 
proprietors came up, and they fet foot upon the 
untilled acres with a free and a bold tread. They 

R 



242 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



were fhackled by no obligations to the demons of 
the departed fuperftition : — the richnefs of the foil 
was theirs : — to the dilapidated temples they ren- 
dered neither fervice nor tribute. This is juft the 
feeling that one has in turning over the pages of the 
learned Chriftian writers of thofe ages, fuch as — 
Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Irenaeus, and pre- 
eminently fo, Eufebius. We need not come down 
to a later time — to thofe who were the actual con- 
temporaries of Julian. 

Let us fix attention, for a moment, upon a 
fmgle inftance — an inftance of which Julian 
muft, as a literary man, have had fome cognizance. 
The reader may take from his fhelves the Upo7ra- 
paarxEvn Evayy£Xixii 9 of the laft named writer, and 
then tell us how many European writers of this 
prefent time he might be able to name — Englifh, 
German, Italian, French — whom he may believe 
to be competent to the compofition of a work 
equal to this, as to the vaftnefs and univerfality of 
the learning which it exhibits, and as to the writer's 
command of his boundlefs materials. Are there, 
juft now, a half-dozen fuch writers, who might be 
the modern competitors for a reputation like that 
which is the due of the author of the Evangelic 
Preparation ? This may be doubted. 

But the accomplished Bifhop of Caefarea wrote 
for readers — for Chriftian, as much as for Pagan 
readers. The book now in our hands, what is it, 
then, but a mirror of the Chriftian intellectuality of 



JULIAN. 243 

the author's times ? It is fo ; and when viewed in 
this light — its true light — then we are left in mute 
amazement at the infatuation of a fcholar-like man 
who fhould think that, by the publication of an 
edict, he could deprive the Galilaean feci and its 
teachers of their intellectual exiftence ! Thefe 
" Galilaeans " were already, and they had been fo 
for a hundred and fifty years, the actual lords of 
the foil in the regions of mind \ the Galilaean 
plough had furrowed — long before this time — it had 
furrowed — every teemingacre of the land of thought 
and reafon ; the Galilaean vine, through many a 
fummer's day of many years pair, had ripened its 
heavy clufters upon every hill-fide of the claffic 
poetry ; beneath the broad fhadow of the terebinth 
of Paleftine the Plato of Greece had found a new 
home, and new lifteners ; and the time was foon 
to come when there would not be a product of 
the ancient mind which fhould be left outftanding 
of the Chriftian enclofure ! What now becomes 
of the Apoftate's bill of limitations ? 

Every age has its fample of men of Julian's 
type. There is fomething in them of the fophift, 
fomething of the pedant : — they are theorifers 
where they fhould concern themfelves with the 
concrete ; and they lofe themfelves often in fome 
fpecialty of the concrete, where they fhould be 
regardful of great principles : — they are men who 
are quick to fee all things — except the fun that is 
blazing in the high heavens over their heads. 



244 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



Julian (we excufe his blindnefs in recollection of 
the perfonal wrongs he had fuffered) could not fee 
or underftand the miracle of that revolution which 
the Galilaean Teacher had wrought in the moral 
and intellectual life of all nations, from the mores 
of the Atlantic to the banks of the Tigris, and 
beyond thefe limits ; but his petulance and his 
error are continually reappearing in the evolutions 
of human nature ; nor are we unlikely at this very 
time to witnefs a repetition of the fame miftakes, 
animated by the fame virulence. 

Julian believed that he could ftem the tidal 
wave of his times ; and it was no wonder that he 
failed. Yet it is certain that, although the broad 
Atlantic may not in any fuch manner be curbed, 
any fmall ftream, or even a river, may be dammed 
up, or turned into a new channel. In this fenfe, 
or within certain limits, or, as we might fay, 
within walls, the experiment of Prohibitive 
Education may be fuccefsfully carried out. This 
has been done, often, and the inftances will occur 
to the reader's recollection. The bimops affembled 
at Carthage, toward the clofe of the fourth cen- 
tury, decreed fomething of this fort, namely, a 
fuperfluous prohibition of thofe profane ftudies in 
which fome few of them, perhaps, had indulged, 
to the fcandal of the many. Some of the mo- 
nadic orders included in their conftitutions a rule 
forbidding the introduction of any but religious 
books. The Jefuit Society have done the like, 



JULIAN. 



245 



where it fuited their purpofe. The more rigid of 
our modern Proteftant fefts have carried out fimilar 
reftri&ive meafures in their fchemes of general or 
of minifterial education ; and fome of them have 
actually folved the problem of the poffibility of 
giving effect to prohibitions of this kind ; fo that 
they might triumphantly appeal to palpable evi- 
dences of their fuccefs. See, they might fay, fee how 
practicable a thing it is, in the training of youth, 
to forbid their mental growth and expanfion. 

The principle of Prohibitive Education may be 
a&ed upon under conditions which render it not 
merely practicable, but warrantable ; as for in- 
ftance : — In the eftablifhment of fchools for the 
children of the labouring claffes we may confine 
the courfe of ftudy to the mere rudiments of learn- 
ing, for this fimple reafon, that our funds do not 
permit of our giving them more ; or otherwife, 
that the brief hours which can be redeemed from 
the rigorous demands of home neceffities will fuf- 
fice for nothing more. The mo ft liberal and be- 
nevolent endeavours to open the path of learning 
to thofe who live by the labour of their hands may 
be hemmed in by hard conditions of this fort. In 
fuch inftances a fcheme of education mould be faid 
to be limited^ rather than prohibitive. But fuch 
fchemes often mow their prohibitive fide when 
the infoluble problem prefents itfelf of teaching 
children the fear of God, in fome manner which 
all "the fubfcribers and fupporters" mall confent 



246 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



to, as not involving a compromife of their " prin- 
ciples," or as invafive of their pet prejudices. 

We have nothing now to do either with elee- 
mofynary, or with under-clafs education, or with 
the difficulty, real or imaginary, of a combination 
of fecular and religious training. Thefe are indeed 
matters of the higheft importance, but they are 
not our fubje£t in thefe pages. Prohibitive 
Education is a forced limitation of the ftudies of 
thofe who (profeffediy) are undergoing an upper- 
clafs training ; or, in other words, who, with the 
exception, or the exceptions aimed at in the pro- 
hibition, are receiving the full meafure of inftruc- 
tion which, in the modern advanced ftate of lite- 
rature and fcience and philofophy, accomplifhed 
profeflbrs can offer to the youth of colleges and 
univerfities. Everything belonging to the culture 
of the mind is to be taught, everything — except 
that which indeed is the ground, the means, the 
Alpha and the Omega, of all culture. 

When Prohibitive Education, under conditions 
of this fort, is carried out in the very midft of a 
Chriftianized community, there may be reafon to 
believe, or we may be willing to perfuade our- 
felves, that it is fo — that the prohibited difcipline, 
and the prohibited knowledge, are elfewhere ef- 
fected and imparted, be it at home, or in a private 
courfe of ftudy, or fome other way, fancied and 
furmifed. It will, however, be found in fa£t, or 
in the very large majority of inftances, that the 



JULIAN. 247 

vacant room of the prohibited fubjecl: has come to 
be rilled up by a pofitive formation of fome fort. 
Nature (certainly it is fo in the world of mind) 
nature abhors a vacuum ; and what is not formally 
and authentically imparted will be fupplied either 
clandeftinely, or fpontaneoufly. The natural com- 
plement of a non-religious education is — a pofitive 
atheifm. 

Remedies, compenfations, re-a£tions, may come 
in to balance, or to neutralife, or to abate the mif- 
chiefs accruing from a fcheme of Prohibitive Edu- 
cation :— or it may be fo in a country like Eng- 
land. It is always allowable to think of fuch 
curative after-influences, as poffible, and perhaps as 
probable. 

The conditions under which prohibitive educa- 
tion may be attempted, or may be carried forward, 
in India, are altogether of another fort. An upper- 
clafs, or univerfity education, given to the higher 
ranks of the Hindoo people, if it be in any fenfe 
prohibitive, feals the fate of thofe who receive it : 
they are its victims. 

The fecularifm of the prefent time, as applied 
to the principles of the courfe to be purfued in 
India, congefts itfelf (as to education) into a pro- 
pofal of this fort. — We will freely fpread before 
you the entire wealth of our European intelli- 
gence, in the feveral departments of literature, 
and fcience, and philofophy, taking care — and we 
pledge our Englilh honour to you in this inftance 



248 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



— taking care to fay and to teach nothing that 
touches our religion, or, as it is called at home, 
u our Chriftianity." 

This offer and this profeffion, fo made to the 
educationable clalTes of our Indian fubjefts, muft 
no doubt be condemned by Chriftian men, on the 
ground of reafons which they will regard as abfo- 
lute and irrefiftible. Be it fo ; but the profeffion 
itfelf, with the offer which is made on this ground, 
includes a great miftake as to the fa£ts thereto 
relating : — it is a blunder which, like that of Ju- 
lian in his prohibitive edift, muft either fail 
utterly in the execution, or, if it fucceeds, it will 
bring with it confequences at the fight of which 
we {hall ftand aghaft. 



SECTION II. 

WE muft not fpare homely language, tempe- 
rately applied, where it fits. There are 
principles which, although they may be difregarded 
by public men — driven as thefe fo often are to the 
employment of miferable fhifts in the conduct of 
affairs, will never be difputed among men of intel- 
ligence, how widely foever fuch men may differ in 
opinion on controvertible fubjedts. 

There are principles which are at once laws of 
their craft, and rules of honour, among thofe who, 



JULIAN. 249 

either by the pen, or from profefforial chairs, take 
rank as teachers of others. If fuch principles have 
often been forgotten, or contemned, by men of 
this clafs, individually, they are never difputed or 
denied. Or if, in ages paft, they have been little 
regarded, in thefe times, it is certain, they muft 
be honoured and acted upon. 

The firft and foremoft of thefe principles, or 
axioms, or laws, as we might call them, of the 
profefforial guild, is that which enjoins upon the 
teacher (not of boys, but of thofe who are approach- 
ing manhood) an abfolute truthfulnefs, a finglenefs 
of intention, fpringing fpontaneoufly,from the com- 
bination of clearnefs in the reafon — unclouded in- 
tellectuality, and moral integrity : — it is the fruit of 
uprightnefs and luminoufnefs. The teacher of 
men, fome of them perhaps a few years only his 
juniors, muff mingle himfelf with them on fuch 
terms of equality as are fuppofed when all are ani- 
mated by one and the fame intention — when all, 
with a like feeling, are pufhing forward upon the 
fame road — one of them, it may be, a little in ad- 
vance of the others. Truth is our object, and 
truthfulnefs muft be our mood and temper, and 
truthfulnefs is the pledge we give one to another : 
— truthfulnefs — a fin againft which is indeed a 
fin unpardonable. 

No fuch queftion will ever be put to his con- 
fcience by a truthful teacher as this : — How far 
may I lean over toward the falfe, without infring- 



2 5° 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



ing upon the limits of profelTorial fincerity ? A 
right-minded teacher abhors the trefpafs, and he 
holds in utter contempt any approximation toward 
it ; and he fcorns therefore to whifper to himfelf, 
or to his colleagues, any queftion of this order. 
Falfification muft not be thought of : concealment, 
for a purpofe not confefled — is, falfification. It need 
fcarcelybe faid that, on the ground of an underftand- 
ing among profeffors, each may abftain from intro- 
ducing fubjedls which, as they are the province of 
one of them, and are known to be fully taught by 
him, and which, as they are incidental only to his 
colleagues, are left by them to his exclufive treat- 
ment. Conceffions of this kind come not within 
our fcope. 

It is a different cafe if a Senatus — a body of Pro- 
fefTors — meet in conclave, and if they collectively 
pledge themfelves to their patrons, not to teach, 
not to bring forward, not to mention, this or that 
clafs of fails, although nearly related to fubjefts 
that are profefiedly taught by them. This is what 
will not be done by men who refpect themfelves, 
and who are regardful of the duties, and the rights, 
and the dignity of their order. 

This independence, this fimplicity and integrity, 
and this abfolute liberty of fpeech — this refplendence 
of the reafon, fet upon the pure gold of moral 
rectitude, is the teacher's qualification, teach where 
he may ; but how indifpenfable is it if he be fent 
forth and conftituted as the teacher of thofe whofe 



JULIAN. 251 

firft fault — the front vice of their ancient race — 
the turpitude of the ethics they have inherited 
from thoufands of years of falfity and delufion — is 
this very apathy — this want of confcioufnefs toward 
truth and truthfulnefs ? If now we might take a 
fair fample of the European, and pre-eminently 
of the Britifh mind, and if we were to bring it into 
contraft with the Oriental, and pre-eminently with 
the Hindoo mind, the moft falient point of that 
contraft would be — this intellectual and moral co- 
herence and confiftency, on the one fide, and an 
almoft abfolute want of it on the other fide. Such 
being the fa£t — and we think it is fo — then fhall 
we undertake the teaching and training of the 
Hindoo — a training and a difcipline which is in- 
tended to lift him up to our own level — and in doing 
fo mail the initial leflbn which we give him be of 
this kind — that we mow ourfelves falfe to our own 
convictions ? We pledge our Britifh honour to 
the Hindoo to this extent, that, in teaching him, 
we tell him either that there is no truth in the 
world, or that we care nothing about it. 

It may be afked in what way, or by what chain 
of inferences, is a falfenefs of this kind implied in 
our undertaking to teach our European literature 
and fcience and philofophy, while we abftain from 
teaching our religion ? In finding an anfwer to 
this queftion, we muft confider it in relation to 
two probable fuppofitions, as thus : — TheProfefTor 
in a College where Hindoos and Mahometans are 



252 ESSAYS, ETC. 

taught may be an accomplifhed man who, avow- 
edly, has no religion — who believes nothing ; or 
believes that all religions are alike. In fuch a cafe, 
then, the teacher compromifes no confcience of 
his own, for he has none ; but then the imputation 
of falfenefs — an imputation which will not fail to be 
carried forward — paries over the head of the indi- 
vidual teacher, and fixes itfelf upon the authorities 
above him. " Here are our fuperiors, calling 
themfelves Chriftians, and yet appointing a man 
to inftrucT: us who is known to hold their Chrif- 
tianity itfelf in contempt ; or, at the beft, he is 
utterly indifferent toward it. They themfelves, 
therefore, either contemn the national religion, or 
they, like our profeflbr, are indifferent toward it. 
There muft be a falfenefs fomewhere, either in 
the patrons, or in the profeflbr; or in both." 

But let it be fuppofed that the profeflbr is h i ru- 
le! f a religious man ; — he is a theift and a Chrif- 
tian. Neverthelefs he pledges himfelf to keep his 
religion out of fight in the whole of his intercourfe, 
public and private, with the men whom he initiates 
in the literature or fcience of Europe. Are Hin- 
doo or Mahometan youths likely to comprehend 
thofe attenuated reafons of policy which may feem 
to juftify a courfe like this — a courfe in which the 
centre truths of all philofophy are to be thruft 
from their place, left native prejudices fhould take 
alarm ? This will not be. If fuch youths might 
chance to fix an eye upon a page (now before us) 



JULIAN. 253 

of Julian's Epiftles, undoubtedly they would 
think that this Pagan's reproaches might fitly be 
applied to their Englifti teachers — xa) tyaxpuv 6x1- 
yoov hzjta vravrcog v7T0(xsvsiv : for the fake of their fti- 
pends they will patiently fay, or not fay, this, or 
that, or anything, or nothing. 

Along with that defective fenfitivenefs toward 
truth and truthfulnefs, which, as we have laid, is 
the chara&eriftic of the Hindoo mind, there is — 
and in this refpect the Mahometan is little in ad- 
vance of the Hindoo — a defective conception of 
the rightful fovereignty of Evidence, or valid 
proof, on any fubject. Through countlefs periods 
the people of India have taken to themfelves reli- 
gious beliefs upon no warranty whatever of reafon : 
— prodigious fyftems of mythology, theogenies,and 
theories of the univerfe, in relation to which the 
queftion — Is it true ? would never be put, or, if 
put, could never be anfwered. In the Hindoo 
mental ftructure it would feem as if the nerves 
which mould connect a belief of any kind with the 
reafoning faculty have, long ago, quite withered 
away. It is not fo entirely with the Mahometan ; 
but he alfo needs — and it is the firft neceffity of 
his intellectual training — he needs to be made con- 
fcious of this principle, that we are bound to feek 
for, and to obey, evidence, and that we muft yield 
ourfelves to proof. Thus, if the firft leflbn in our 
European training of the Oriental mind be truth- 
fulnefs, integrity, intellectual and moral, the fecond 



254 ESS ATS, ETC. 

leflbn, which indeed is logical rather than moral, 
and which might be fpoken of as a difcipline rather 
than an axiom, is, the bringing thefe relaxed intel- 
lects, thefe nervelefs brains, into a due bearing 
with procefles of reafoning, mathematical, phyfical, 
and hiftorical, confidered as forces which are to com- 
mand us^ and which muft carry us along with 
them. 

Our European phyfical fciences feal the fate of 
Hindooifm ; and in like manner it might be faid — 
and it would be fo, in fa£t, if we ourfelves could 
but underftand it — that a genuine training and an 
unreftri£ted inftruction in European hiftory muft 
leal the fate of the Mahometan belief \ that is to 
fay, fuch a courfe of inftrudtion involves its refu- 
tation and its demolition, as a belief which edu- 
cated men may now retain. As to that religious 
treatment which it is the part and duty of the 
Chriftian teacher, the miflionary, to undertake, we 
have nothing to do with it in thefe pages. What 
we are fpeaking of is college-training. Now, in 
a courfe of college-training, we are bound, or 
ought to think ourfelves bound, fo to teach mo- 
dern hiftory as Ihall neceffarily be deftruftive of 
Mahometanifm. If we undertake to open the 
volume of Modern European Hiftory to the Ma- 
hometan, faving and refpecting his faith in the 
miflion of the Prophet, we pledge ourfelves to 
utter a virtual lie at every ftep of our courfe. If 
I am appointed to a Chair of Hiftory, anywhere 



JULIAN. 255 

within the arms of the Ganges and the Indus, and 
if, before entering the hall, I bind myfelf to refpecSr. 
the prejudices of the Mahometan youth of my 
clafs — if I do this, I put myfelf in a pofition which 
is nothing better than that of a fuborned witnefs 
in a momentous fuit. 

What fort of European hiftory is it which an 
honeft teacher fhould unfold in view of Mahome- 
tan (and Hindoo) youths who are to receive an 
unreftricted European education ? We may boldly 
fay it is fuch a hiftory as is not yet anywhere ex- 
tant in the compafs of European literature : it is 
fuch a hiftory as muft be compiled by men who, 
at fome future time, are to be called up and created 
for the performance of fo fignal a fervice as this, 
namely — the bringing the Oriental mind into 
correfpondence with the European mind, clear 
and clean of our European misjudgments, and of 
whatfoever in our Chriftianity is national, and po- 
litical, and temporary. 

Mahometan youths fhould be made to feel that 
the ground is folid under their feet, at every ftep 
in their progrefs in modern hiftory. The vaft 
extent and the variety of the materials of this hif- 
tory, the inter-relationfhip of its feveral elements, 
and the irrefiftible evidences upon which it refts, 
fhould be placed fully before them. The courfe of 
events within the compafs of this hiftory is authen- 
tically known ; it is known in its details : although 
it may be brought into queftion at this or that 



256 



ESSJrS, ETC. 



point, yet, as a whole, as a mafs, it ftands clear of 
a fliadow of doubt. You mull take it at our hands, j 
and accept it as not lefs Jure than are the phyfical 
fciences which you are learning from us in the ad- 
joining halls. 

But now how (hall it be poffible, in any fuch ; I 
ample manner as this, and with any fuch fearlefs ( 
lincerity and fimplicity, to teach hiftory, namely, J B 
the hiftory of the European nations during the \ ■ 
eighteen centuries paft, and not touch or teach : . 
our Chriftianity, and not offend Mahometan fenfi- \ 
tivenefs ? Nothing of this fort is poffible, No '." 
artifice of referve, no method of concealment, none \ 
of the fubterfuges of a miftaken delicacy, no rules i i 
of a fcheme of Prohibitive Education, will avail us R 
in this cafe. In teaching hiftory we muft needs : 
fpeak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but : 
the truth ; and inafmuch as a bold-minded and ! f) 
fimple-hearted teacher has nothing on his own i 
fide to conceal, fo will he not confent to conceal ! : 
anything on the fuppofition, fo infulting to thole ■ 
who have put their minds into his hands, that they I : 
would not wifh to learn it. 

i : 

I I 

SECTION III. 

THE expreffions fo often ufed of late in con- 
nection with Indian affairs — " our Religion" \ 



JULIAN. 257 

— " our Chriftianity " — and " the teaching our Reli- 
gion in India" — convey, and conceal in conveying 
it, a ferious mifapprehenfion of fails which mould 
be better underftood. The correlative phrafe, " our 
Religion," has no meaning, unlefs it implies that 
there are other religions abreaft of our own, and 
which may claim to be thought of, and cared for, 
and endowed, along with it, and which, perhaps, 
may have as good a claim as our own to a refpe£t- 
ful treatment. 

It is quite true that, when we put ourfelves in 
the pofition of the fubjugated nations of the Eaft 
(and we ought fo to place ourfelves fometimes) 
that, as looked at from this point of view, a our 
Religion " is only one of feveral ; and it is true, 
moreover, that, in all matters of fifcal juftice, and 
in all matters concerning the police, and in what- 
foever touches the principles and the practices of 
a perfect religious toleration, thefe " other reli- 
gions" poflefs unimpeachable claims to a careful 
and even fcrupulous regard on the part of a con- 
quering and omnipotent alien Government. All 
this is out of queftion, and it can fcarcely be necef- 
fary formally to fay as much. 

But what we are concerned with in this Effay 
ftands altogether on another ground. We are not 
fpeaking of this or of that religion, looked at from 
the Hindoo or the Mahometan point of view ; 
nor yet of " our religion" fuch as it is, and ought 
to be regarded by the Chriftian miffionary, or by 

s 



2 5 8 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



Chriftian teachers. What we have before us is 
the propofed impartation of European intelligence 
— its literature, its phyfical fcience, and its abftra£t 
philofophy — to the native mind, both Hindoo and 
Mahometan : — and as to this training and this teach- 
ing, we affume that it is to be ample, and genuine, 
and unreferved, and honeft. Furthermore, while 
an education of this kind is not fet on foot for the 
purpofe of teaching Chriftianity (for this teaching 
fhould flow in altogether another channel) it 
cannot be deliberately intended to teach, and to en- 
fure the adoption of, that virulent European athe- 
ifm which, at this time efpecially, is the only " other 
Religion" to which Chriftianity ftands oppofed. 

In carrying to India the mafs and the volume 
of European intelligence— its fpecific knowledge, 
and thofe modes of thinking that are adopted by 
the educated claffes of Chriftianized Europe, we 
muft take with us either the material atheifm of 
France or Germany, or elfe we muft take our 
Chriftian Theifm, and our Chriftian fentiment 
and feeling : the one fyftem, or the other muft be 
affumed as the centre of thought, and as the ful- 
crum and the energy around which all other forces 
are to revolve, and toward which all things muft 
tend. But then as to this Atheifm, we muft know 
what is its name at this moment, and where it is to 
be found, and who is its high prieft, or its Mahomet. 
For, as to the laft of the atheifms that has been much 
fpoken of, it was flain awhile ago, not by Chrif- 



JULIAN. 259 

tian hands, but by the minifters of a religion of 
the fame order, which is now, we are told, almoft 
ready to make its triumphant entry upon the ftage 
of the world, and to rule our future deftinies. 
Meantime we may be fure it is Chriftianity that 
muft ftand, where it has fo long flood — the centre, 
the fulcrum, the reafon, the law of all movements 
in the great world of cultured thought, feeling, 
and action. 

We return, for a moment, to Julian and his 
times. He failed to apprehend the fact that, fome 
time before the mid years of the fourth century, 
Chriftianity had become the dominant power in the 
world of thought. Toward it all things in that 
world tended ; around it, as their centre, all things 
were coming to revolve. Named, or not named, 
in books ; profefTed, or rejected, this was the fun 
among the planets, and affuredly there was then 
no other fun in the heavens. This confpicuous 
fact this emperor and philofopher did not under- 
stand ; and therefore he thought that he might 
ftiut off the Greek literature from the enclofures 
I of the Galilaean feci: ! — a great miftake ! Never- 
thelefs this attempt, impracticable as it was, muft 
be accounted a lefs miftake than is the endeavour, 
at this^ime made, to ftiut off Chriftianity from the 
range and compafs of European fcience and philo- 
fophy. 

There are thofe near us who would vehemently 
affirm the contrary of this, and who will tell us 



260 



ESSJrS, ETC. 



that all things, or all things worth the knowing — 
the encyclopedia of a thorough college education, 
may be conveyed — Theifm apart, and Chriftianity 
apart. Grant it that this may be done in a Euro- 
pean college ; but no fuch abnegation of the 
higheft truths will be effected without having re- 
courfe to an affe£tation of ignorance, the animus 
of which every youth in the clafs will perfe£lly 
underftand, and, underftanding it, he is fo far pro- 
tected from its ill influence. But carry out this 
fame animus^ with its thin coating of affectation, 
to India. What the refult will there be needs 
hardly to be affirmed. 

To the Hindoo, thus inftrufted in thofe phy- 
fical fciences which are fatal to his Hindooifm, 
there can remain nothing but the pantheifm which 
is ever near at hand to the Oriental intellect, and 
which, when hardened in paffing through the fires 
of the phyfical fciences, becomes an indurated 
atheifm, for ever impenetrable to every foftening 
influence. The A4ahometan, taught to think 
freely as to his prophet's minion, and if he be taught 
nothing as to the relative force of the Chriftian 
argument, finds, in his rejection of his own faith, 
reafon enough for rejecting that of his teacher; if 
indeed he can think that his teacher is poffefTed of 
any faith at all. 

In India, Prohibitive Education, carried 
out in colleges, can be nothing elfe than a training 
of youth in a fpecies of atheifm which {hall qualify 



JULIAN. 261 



the upper ranks of the native races for looking on 
with more than Oriental indifference, while the 
maffes of the people, in fome future outburft — not 
far off — are wrecking now a poftponed vengeance, 
upon their European oppreffors. 

A wrongful policy may be maintained and kept 
in vigour long — from generation to generation \ 
for it has no remorfes, no fcruples, no hefitations, 
no fhame, no reluctances. But a ml/taken policy, 
well intentioned, will not fail quickly to get itfelf 
fet faft in the impracticable : — it was full of incon- 
gruities when it ftarted ; and thefe incongruities 
break out upon the furface as fheer abfurdities, 
after a very little time. So will it be with the 
endeavour to carry out in India a fcheme of Pro- 
hibitive Education. Prohibit nothing — or nothing 
which is not immoral, and then Chriftianity comes 
into its due pofition — not as " our religion," but 
as the one and the only religion in the world. 




! 



ESSAY VII. 



cc Without Controverjy." 

AI b(jLQ\oyovpLkvu$ — cc confeffedly." A 
fenfe muft be fought for in which 
this apoftolic phrafe * might be ap- 
plied, either to the "great myftery" 
which then and there is named, or to any other 
article of a Chriftian man's belief ; for, in fa£t, all 
principles are controverted, and every article of 
every creed is difputed, and is denied, and is re- 
jected, by fome around us ; and even by fome to 
whofe exceptions a degree of refpecT: is due. So 
it is now ; and fo it has been in every age ; and fo 
it was at the moment when this paftoral epiftle 
was written, and defpatched. 

But in this place, as we are not undertaking to 
expound Scripture, we need not flop to afcertain, 
with precifion, the fenfe which the infpired writer 
might have attributed to this phrafe, as he here 
employs it. He might perhaps ufe the word 




* i Tim. iii. 16. 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 263 



adverbially, or for emphafis, and in no very ftrict 
or definite fenfe, but merely as a word fuited to 
exprefs his own ftrong feeling of the certainty of 
that one great truth, which, furpaffing, as it does, 
the utmoft compafs of human thought, is never- 
thelefs the truth, moft firmly to be held, as it is 
the foundation of every other article of Chriftian 
theology. We may thus think, and pafs on ; and 
then a(k — In what fenfe, by aid of an allowable 
accommodation perhaps, we, at this time, may 
apply the fame word to any doctrine, or article of 
belief, which we ourfelves embrace with the fulleft 
confidence ? How mall we bring ourfelves to 
think of any of our elementary convictions, and, 
always fuppofing that we are well informed, as to 
the hiftory of religious opinions, and the prefent 
ftate of controverfies throughout Chriftendom, 
(hall affirm concerning it, that it is received and af- 
fented to — o/jLohoyoufAEvcog — without controverfy ?" 
There is no one element of faith to which, in this 
fenfe, we may apply this phrafe. Merely to affirm 
of a doctrine that if it be true, it is confeffedly " a 
great myftery," is little better than to affirm a 
truifm in a frigid manner. 

There is, however, a fenfe in which a Chrif- 
tian man thoroughly informed, may fo fpeak of 
his own faith, and, feverally, of its elements : — 
and it is thus. Let us take the inftance of thofe 
— and there are many fuch at this time— who, 
whether or not they may have palTed through a 



264 ESSATS, ETC. 



courfe of theological training, as if preparatory to 
the exercife of the Chriftian miniftry, are fairly 
well-informed on all thofe fubje£ts that are ufually 
included in a clerical education. We fuppofe fuch 
perfons to be furrounded alfo with the neceffary 
aids for profecuting ftudies of this order, and for 
recovering what they may have forgotten : — they 
are, more or lefs, converfant with religious hiftory, 
ancient and modern ; and, as to the controverfies 
of recent times, fuch perfons are, we may fuppofe, 
acquainted with them, and they know at what 
ftage or point the always-advancing mafs of reli- 
gious, and of irreligious thought, is juft now 
making a momentary paufe. To fuch perfons, 
therefore, there will not be room to addrefs the 
fupercilious caution — " You would do well to read 
Mr. — — 's book, juft out; for when you have 
read it, you will fee ground for lowering the tone 
in which you fpeak of your cheriflied, but anti- 
quated, orthodoxy." 

Thofe who ftand in a pofition fuch as that 
which we have now indicated, toward the world 
of religious thought — toward its controverfies, and 
its beliefs, may often be tempted to envy the feli- 
city offome fimple-hearted Chriftian people around 
them, who, uninformed in fuch matters, and quite 
mindlefs as toward every fpecies of gainfaying, are 
content to hold faft the cc form of found words " 
which they have been taught ; and thus they live, 
and breathe, and thrive, walking and refting in the 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 265 



funny Beulah of untroubled faith. But we are 
forbidden, by the conftitution as well of the intel- 
lectual as of the moral world, to recede from a 
pofition to which we have fpontaneoully advanced: 
—it is not allowable to take up the cup of know- 
ledge, and then to forget that we have tafted it : 
the tafte will remain, as a bitternefs on the palate^ 
ever afterwards, unlefs we go on to fip, and to 
drink anew. Be ignorant, or, if you would not be 
ignorant, then learn whatever may be learned. 
Think not at all ; or elfe think on to the end. 

Neverthelefs, although it is not permitted to us 
to fall back upon the immunities of fimple igno- 
rance, if once thefe have been forfeited, there is 
ftill a courfe that may be taken, and in taking 
which a more folid peace may be fecured than 
the peace of ignorance can be, and where a fafer 
anchorage may be found than is that of the fhoal 
of mindlefs aflentation. 

Thofe who, through life, have acquainted them- 
felves with controverfy, and who, perhaps, may 
have touched it themfelves, and who, within their 
circles, have ufed and acquired the ftyle and habit 
of argumentation — thofe who are often meeting 
and refuting objections — thofe who are accuftomed 
to the wearing of armour, and the poifing of wea- 
pons — fuch perfons well know how difficult it is 
for them to fix their attention upon great truths, 
thought of apart from all the denials of them — on 
this fide, and on that fide. Even into the retire- 



266 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



ments of the moft fecluded and abftracSted fanctum 
of religious meditation, the grim fpe£tre of an 
antagonift makes its way, and, at a glance of the 
forbidding and palid vifage, a vigilant logic wakes 
up, and an encounter is threatened ! 

But there comes a time in a man's courfe, ear- 
lier or later, even of fuch an one as we are here 
fuppofing, when he may well, and fafely, and much 
to his perfonal comfort, mut the door againft argu- 
ment and contradiction, and when he may bring 
himfelf into near communion with the truths of 
his belief — apart from the denial of them, or as if 
what is true were, in all men's efteem, " confef- 
fedly" true. He thus forgets the opinions of 
others, and he believes himfelf at liberty to fay — 
Now, at length, and henceforward to the end of 
life, let me reft upon my beliefs, as axioms that 
are held — bpoxoyoufAEvoog — in their indifputed and 
azure-like fimplicity and certainty. 

This faith of a Chriftian man's meditative even- 
ing hour, we may imagine to be enjoyed where he 
looks around upon the backs of many books which 
he has read, but which he will not open again ; 
and yet his faith mull not be contemned, as if it 
were a blind faith ; for a man is not blind who, 
having been converfant, long enough, with the 
ftormy things of earth, turns the eye to the region 
where ftorms do not arife. The queftion comes 
then as to what thofe beliefs are which, fafely, and 
with advantage, may be brought infide the confe- 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 267 

crated enclofure of religious meditation, and which 
may be privileged as principles that are held — ■ 
controverfy apart. 



SECTION I. 

IF there were room for a queftion, whether I 
mould admit myfteries, and perhaps u great 
myfteries," into my creed, then this doubt would 
be removed at the outfet ; for myfteries that are 
deep and impenetrable hover around its very firft 
article, which is to fet forth what I believe con- 
cerning Human Nature, and the human family, 
and, confequently, my own place and deftiny, as 
thereto related. 

But why, contrary to every fyftematic rule and 
cuftom in creed-making, why begin this with an 
article of this fort ? The reafon for doing fo may 
be thus exemplified by aid of an analogy. The 
firft ftep in acquiring a true knowledge of the 
celeftial bodies — their magnitudes, diftances, and 
motions — is the meafuring an arc of the earth's 
furface : this initial and unambitious operation 
precludes many and grievous errors concerning 
my own ftanding-place in the material univerfe ; 
and, moreover, it puts into my hand the fure 
means of carrying elaborate calculations outward 
and upward to vaft diftances, even as far as to the 



2 68 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



outfkirts of this planetary fyftem, if not beyond 
that fyftem. If ancient aftronomers had been 
content to take this courfe, or, if taking it, they 
had followed it out, what we now call " our mo- 
dern aftronomy" would, by this time, have been 
an " ancient aftronomy," and yet true. 

In making a commencement where I now 
make it, for finding the ftarting-point of a creed, 
I efcape the danger which has been fo fearleflly 
met by the framers of fymbols, namely, the pre- 
fuming myfelf to know vaftly more than I do, or 
ever can know. The Divine Nature, fo far as | 
it may be apprehended by the human mind, muft 
become known to it in quite another manner than 
that of abftradt fpeculation, or of logical dedudtion. 
And yet fyftems of theology are made up of pro- 
pofitions concerning the Infinite Being, which 
propofitions, if I follow them out in logical order, 
lead me not into light, but into utter darknefs — the 
darknefs either of univerfal doubt, or of material 
atheifm. 

But now, in giving expreffion to my belief con- | 
cerning this — its foremoft article, touching human 
nature, and the moral fyftem, I have faid that 
myfteries attach to it : — what are they, or why 
admit them ? Human nature is a fatt, which is 
under my eye ; and if, with human nature fpread 
out before me, I am willing to abftain from uncer- 
tain fpeculations, and to keep within the range of 
unqueftionable realities — if I refufe to follow any 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 269 

i vague inferences ; and if I reprefs, and hold in con- 
tempt, mere emotions and fympathies, which are 
j fruitlefs and idle, then, and on thefe conditions, 
j may I not preferve my belief concerning the 
l human family, quite exempt from myfteries ? Not 
fo; or at the beft, in the place of myfteries, which 
may indeed trouble me, I fhall come in front 
I of contradictions and incoherences which muft 
actually ftagger and paralyze the reafoning faculty. 
A phyfiology of man which excludes all myftery, 
can be nothing more than an anatomy : it gives 
the parts , the folids, the fluids, the mechanifm ; 
but it does not give the functions. 

But were not ancient fchemes of human nature 
much lefs encumbered with myftery, and far more 
lightfome, and eafy of apprehenfion than are any 
of thofe fchemes or theories which I might now 
be willing to accept as expreffive of my belief 
on this fubject ? It muft be granted that they 
were fo ; and yet I am not at liberty fo to releafe 
myfelf from the burden that has come upon me, 
for it has come in confequence of a great extenfion 
of my range of vifion, and in confequence alfo of a 
knowledge of facts that were not heretofore known, 
or, if known, regarded ; and the burden of myftery 
has become as oppreffive as it is in confequence 
alfo of the quickening of moral fentiments which 
had flept for ages, even throughout the times of 
the ancient philofophy. The perplexities which 
darken my profpect, and fadden my meditative 



i 



270 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



hours, could not in any way be difpelled, unlefs I 
might unknow what I have come to know, and 
then might ceafe to feel what I could not wifh 
not to feel. If I labour to forget what I know, 
the mere attempt fixes it the more firmly in my 
memory; and as to an attempted abatement of 
feeling, or a factitious quafning of any fenfibility, 
which approves itfelf as of genial and beneficent 
quality, this would be— even if I could attempt it, 
a brutalizing operation ; and better were it to be- 
come infenfible and earthly, in the vulgar method 
of a life of animal indulgence and fordid felfifhnefs, 
than to force myfelf into it by a procefs of philo- 
fophical fophiftication. 

As member of the community of mind, at this 
time, and as a partaker of that religious and intel- 
lectual training which is therein to be had, I have 
undergone a difcipline which, in its confequences, 
brings the fhadow of the moft fombre myfteries 
to reft upon this — -the firft article of my creed, 
concerning human nature, and the ftate and prof- 
pecSts of the human family. How this comes 
about may thus be explained. 

I may be in company, for a length of time, 
with fome one who is confpicuoully eminent above 
his fellows, and vaftly my fuperior, in wifdom and 
virtue. I contemplate, with involuntary admira- 
tion, his felf-command, his felf-denial, his active 
benevolence, his energy, courage, and affiduity in 
labouring for the good of others ; I obferve alfo 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 271 



his humility and modefty ; I admire the tranflu- 
cence of his chara£ter, and its ftrength. But this 
admiration, and this efteem, which grow in me 
from day to day, are not mere fentiments of awe, 
and refpeft, and affection ; for there attends thefe 
feelings, or foon follows them, a kindling emotion 
which is perhaps new to me. I muft not call it 
ambition^ for it has a high and a pure intention, to 
which this term does not well apply. This new 
impulfe is an energy, deeply ftirring my whole 
nature ; and it utters itfelf in fervent ejaculations 
of this fort : — Would that I were fuch as is this 
my admirable friend ! Shall I not emulate his 
virtues ? Shall I not take him as my pattern, and 
follow his fteps, and become, in fome meafure, 
like him ? 

This emulous and hopeful impulfe I feel to be 
the indication of a law of my moral ftru&ure 
which, although it may long have been latent, and 
might continue latent, ought to ftand as the axiom 
of any true philofophy of human nature. If now 
the perfon whom I thus acknowledge to be fo 
much my fuperior, were one of a higher order of 
beings — a member of the celeftial hierarchy, the 
conditions of whofe exiftence are eflentially unlike 
thofe to which I am fubje6ted, fo that his virtue, 
and my virtue, can have no convertible value, and 
fo that there could be no room for emulation or 
imitation on my part — then, and on that fuppofi- 
tion, the vivid emotion which juft now I have 



272 



ESSATS, ETC. 



fpoken of, muft inftantly fubfide, and in the place of 
it there would come over me a lifelefs and power- 
lefs awe : — veneration, love, perhaps ; but it muft 
be a love that would be ineffective and unavailing. 

Or let me take an inftance of another kind. 
The being whom I acknowledge as my fuperior 
in wifdom and virtue, may be one who,' as to his 
natural endowments, his intelligence, and power 
of thought, is not my equal, but far otherwife ; 
nor, as to his early advantages, have they been 
fuch as to put him, in the world's efteem, on a 
level with me, or near it. Neverthelefs I yield to 
him a place of efteem in my inmoft thoughts, to 
which, as if it were due to myfelf, I dare not pre- 
tend : he is my fuperior. In this cafe the fame 
confcioufnefs of a power in myfelf, though latent, 
or very feebly alive, is awakened, and it is pun- 
gently ftimulated, though in another manner. Here 
is my humble friend who has got the ftart of me 
fo far on the upward path, notwithftanding the 
lower range of his intellect, and the many defeats 
of his early training. What is it that I have been 
doing thefe many years ? With what trifles have 
I been occupied ? Why have I not become — 
what he is — yes, and much more than this — advan- 
taged by my ftronger reafon, and the various cul- 
ture it has had ! Here again I recognize a firft 
principle in human nature — its caufative moral 
power — to think wrongly concerning which, or to 
allow fophiftries of any kind, philofophical or 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 273 

theological, to cloak it with evafions, muft be of 
the moft ferious ill confequence : it is certain that, 
whatever may be loft fight of in my creed, this 
prime article, on which hinges my faith in the 
reality of the moral fyftem, muft not be wanting 
in it. I muft take care to fecure a foremoft place 
for this belief. 

In thefe experiences there is a tacit recognition 
of the principle, that the moral element in human 
nature is its leading or paramount element, and is 
that toward which the mental organization tends, 
as the centre or final caufe of the ftrudlure. The 
fight of eminent wifdom and virtue excites an 
emotion of admiration and efteem which is in- 
voluntary and irrefiftible ; and beyond this there 
comes an emotion taking effect upon my perfonal 
confcioufnefs, and inciting me to move forward on 
the fame path. Yet no fuch impulfe takes effect 
upon me unlefs there be alfo a confcioufnefs, feeble 
or vivid, of a power fo to do. I gaze upward as 
the eagle foars cloudward, and may think his 
power of wing enviable ; but the idle wifh to 
overtake him in the fky has no momentum in it, 
for nature has denied me wings. 

Thus far my experience of human nature does 
not neceffarily throw an inference forward beyond 
the prefent economy of mundane life : to gather 
fuch an inference I muft look at the fame human 
nature on another fide. 

A purpofe of benevolence, perhaps, may have 

T 



274 ESSAYS, ETC. 

impelled me to vifit a den wherein the victims of 
our " civilization " are enduring all the mifery 
which body and foul may be confcious of ; and 
where they are fubjefl: to thofe worfe miferies 
which they have ceafed to be confcious of. Sad 
exhibition indeed ! and yet great principles main- J 
tain their fupremacy here as elfewhere, but under 
new modifications. I fix the eye upon fome one 
of the inmates of this den : — flefh and blood like 
my own, and the rudiments of every fenfibility and 
affe&ion which I cherifh in my own nature are 
there. And yet what would it be to be linked in ; 
companionfhip with this being for a day ! What 
but a martyrdom ! For he is as fenfual as a fwine, 
as fierce as a wolf; he is knavifh, petulant, and 
wayward, and utterly impatient of remonftrance, 
entreaty, and rebuke ; he will have none of my j 
counfels, and he flings defiance at me if I infult 
him with my pity. Yet why fketch this rude 
outline ? Better afcend the filthy fteps of this 
cellar, uttering lome apothegm of a frigid philo- 
fophy — a text from a page of our " fociological 
fcience " — and fay, as to this brother of mine, he i 
is indeed a pitiable object ; but we fliould think of 
him as the blamelefs vidlim of our faulty inftitu- 
tions, and of the unlucky phyfical conditions of his 
place, beneath the wheel of the great machine : 
it was his misfortune to inherit a depraved animal 
conftitution, and every circumftance of his courfe 
in life, from — the cradle ! — the babe never Hum- ; 



WITHOVT CONTROVERSY. 275 

bered in a cradle ! — from his mother's breaft. ! — 
that breaft was deftitute alike of milk and of fond- 
nefs ! — every influence from the firft hour to this 
hour, has been the word poffible. How much 
blame, then, can I think is this victim's due ? 
Boldly fay — none ! 

But again I encounter this fame wretched being, 
and this time it is abroad in the noify court, or 
alley, that I find him. There is a brawl : — unpro- 
voked, he is inflicting grievous injuries upon one 
who is not his match in ftrength : — it is a wanton 
and purpofelefs cruelty, a mere outfpend of favage- 
nefs, to no end. Sad is it to liften to the fcreams 
of the fufFerer, trampled on and kicked in the 
gutter. But at this fight my " focial fcience" 
maxims fnap in funder, and fail me quite ; for I 
feel, and am ready to act too, at the impulfe of a 
contrary belief. What ! — this monfter of cruelty, 
is he not blameworthy ? We mall foon (how him 
that we think him to be fo. Away with him : he 
deferves ten times more punifhment than the law 
is able to inflict upon him. 

Now if I am told that I am giving way to an 
; unreafonable impulfe of mere feeling, and that in- 
| ftead of aiding the law in its purpofe of inflicting 
' punifhment upon this wretch, I Ihould be true to 
\ my philofophy, and fhould ceafe to think of even 
' the worft outrages as crhnes : — then it comes to 
'■ this, that in the ftructure of my mind there is an 
I inftin£t of juftice fo powerful, fo irrefiftibly ftrong, 



276 



ESSAYS, ETC 



and a forecafting of retribution fuch, as that, not 
even the moft extreme imaginable inftance, in 
which the defire of vengeance fhould give way to 
cold difguft, can avail to quafti, or to divert the 

emotion. 

Here, then, is an ungovernable impulfe, prompt- 
ing me to inflict punifhment where, if all the cir- 
cumftances be duly confidered, it might feem to be 
only a new wrong to inflict any. This is a fact 1 
in human nature which carries with it feveral II 
weighty inferences. To find thefe inferences I 
mult carry home the cafe I have imagined, and I 
confider it as it may have a bearing upon my own I 
habits of thought, and my perfonal anticipations of : 
a future, and it may be, a final, retribution. 

I find that this brutal wrong-doer, if I converfe 
with him, has become, as one might fay, fo en- 
crufted with the hideous notions of a perverted 
morality, as that any appeal I might make to his k 
confcience, or to his fenfe of juftice or humanity, 
is turned afide : he mocks my ethics : — he has his 
own code. Such, I may coolly fay, fuch are the 
infatuations that fpring out of mifery and vice, 
rendering any procefs of cure almoft hopelefs ! i 
But now may there not be infatuations of a filken | 
fort, which fpread themfelves around my own ! i 
egotiftic habits of feeling, and which have the 
effect of rendering me more or lefs unconfcious of i 
what it might greatly concern me to know and 
think of? this is not improbable ; and if fo, then J 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 277 



[j it may alfo be true that — if all the conditions of 

I i the two cafes were fully underftood, and if they 

I I were fairly allowed for, the vehemence of the appe- 
: : tite for retribution would loofen its grafp of its one 

miferable object, and fix its talons on another. 

On rare occafions, when enormous crimes are 
perpetrated, and when the innocent are barba- 
: i roufly wronged, there is a loud outcry for ven- 
geance. Human nature utters itfelf with paffion ; 

I but yet it is not a falfe utterance : it is a true, 
though an impetuous vaticination. The thunder- 
bolts of Heaven are called for, and Heaven, in 

I its own day, will anfwer the call. But now if 
there is to be a future reckoning in any cafe^ and 
if any deeds are to be brought into court, that 
reckoning, undoubtedly, will be univerfal ; it will 

■ be impartial ; it will be unexceptive : — that inquiry 
will leave nothing unfought for, nor will it ever 
be baffled in its fearch. 

It is impoffible that I can think otherwife than 
thus of the future judicial proceedings of a central 
and a Supreme Authority : the Righteoufnefs of 
Heaven will be no refpecter of perfons. No procefs 
of reafoning — no labours of the human mind, will 

I avail, or have ever availed hitherto, to difperfe the 
heavy difquietudes that arife from the confciouf- 
nefs of individual blameworthinefs, and the fore- 
thought of a future reckoning. How idle, for 

I any fuch purpofes, are the dreams of the pantheift ! 
The forebodings of an awakened confcience are 



278 ESSAYS, ETC. 

not to be affuaged by any devices fo flimfy as 
thefe. How then, if not fo ? In no other way 
than by rinding — if it may anywhere be found — an 
authentic and a truftworthy Religion. 



SECTION II. 

BY methods of abftract thought I may frame 
for myfelf a Religion which {hall be theo- 
retically coherent, and apparently probable ; but 
then it ftands contradicted, on the right hand, and 
on the left hand, by other theories or fchemes, 
each more or lefs confiftent and reafonable, and 
any one of which might well be accepted in its 
ftead. At leaft fome one of thefe rival fyftems, 
even though it may be of inferior quality, may 
prevail over my better convictions in a feafon of 
intellectual abatement, or of moral infirmity : in 
an evil hour I may become enfnared by a fophiftry 
which, in a brighter hour, I fhould reject with 
contempt. It is at the urgent prompting of the 
moral inftincts, and as driven forward by the fore- 
bodings that attend thefe inftincts, that I feek for 
a religion ; and if it is to affuage the anxieties of 
an enlightened confcience, the religion which I 
am to accept fhould not ftand contradicted, or be 
brought into queftion by any fort of evidence, or 
any counter-teftimony which is of the fame quality 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 279 



as that which fupports itfelf : as, for inftance, ab- 
ftra£t reafoning, againft abftract reafoning ; — or 
human teftimony, apparently good, oppofed to 
other human teftimony, apparently good. There 
is only one religion, hitherto known in the world, 
which occupies this pofition, and which I may 
accept, and may rely upon as uncontradicted and 
authentic, and truftworthy, after informing myfelf 
fully and exactly of its evidences. But how is it 
that I can acquiefce in the religion of the Bible, 
and receive it — b^oKoyou^sv^g — as " confelTedly " 
true, fince there are fo many who rejedt it ? 

It is thus — I am now making no diftin£iion 
between the Old Teftament and the New, as if 
the latter might be accepted, although the former 
were reje£ted. For if the older writings are not 
the records of a continuous meflage from God to 
man, then I decline to trouble myfelf with any 
refearch concerning the merits or pretenfions of 
the later writings. Whatever may be the diftinc- 
tions which hereafter I may incline to infift upon 
between the one and the other, juji now I make 
no fuch diftindtion ; but I take the Bible as a 
whole, and I accept it as the record of a continuous 
Divine Revelation, and I fo take it with a cordial 
acquiefcence, and, after laborious inquiry, I hold it 
to be true, in its own fenfe — b^oxoyou^svco; — " con- 
felTedly " fo — notwithstanding the contrary pro- 
feffion of many, and of many educated men like 
myfelf) and I do fo without hefitation, and without 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



arrogance ; and I mould do fo, even if all were 
againft me, or a thoufand to one, or ten thouiand 
to one. 

The rejection of the Holy Scriptures as true in 
their own ienfe, namely, as being a direct meiTage 
from God, may at this time be confidered as iw 
arifing from two fources ; for, firft, there are the 3- 
contradictions of abftract philofophy ; and thefe, at 
this time, are refolvable into the pantheiftic and 
the atheiftic theories ; — the two, merging always 
the one into the other ; for although thefe para- i£ 
doxes may feem to be exclufive, the one of the 1- 
other, the ground of distinction between them 
finks away whenever I attempt to let foot upon it, h 
The two fchemes are at one on this point, that h 
they both treat the moral fenfe in human nature ' B 
as a delufion, and both of them deny the reality of - i 
that fyftem of government — prefent and future, I I 
from a belief in which the notions of virtue and- i: 
vice, of good and evil, and of individual refponfi- 
bility and religious relationfhip to the Supreme 1 I 
Being, take their rife. In relation, therefore, to 
the religion of the Scriptures, pantheifm and athe- 1 
ifm are not to be confidered as two fyftems, but - 
as one. 

Knowing, as I do, that thefe theories of the uni- 
verfe have befet the regions of Abftract Thought 
in all times, and, in fact, that they haunt the human 
intellect, and that, at this prefent moment, they 
avail to paralyze the religious convictions of many, 



WITHOUT CONTR OVERST. 28 1 



it would not be fafe on my part to difmifs them, as 
if in ignorance of their actual prefence, and of the 
influence they exert ; for it might be faid to me — 
If you had only acquainted yourfelf with the mo- 
dern form of thefe ancient philofophic fyftems, you 
would have found that they are far more fubftan- 
tial than you feem to imagine ; and, in fact, that 
it is more eafy to contemn them blindly, than 
fairly to refute them. 

So thinking, I therefore inform myfelf concern- 
ing both thefe doctrines, and I take care to know 
the extent of their meaning; and my finding con- 
cerning them is this : — firft, that they are para- 
doxes of that kind, of which there are feveral, that 
go in pairs, the one of them ferving as a place of 
retreat when we are in conflict with the absurdi- 
ties of the other. At fuch a time we look about 
for any way of efcape. Thus, when I am beaten 
off from atheifm, which is the denial of the Infi- 
nite, and the One, I rum into the arms of the 
other, which is the denial of the finite ; and yet 
when there, I find only a momentary breathing 
time ; for I quickly feel that atheifm is in fact an 
eafier, or more fomnific philofophy to live under 
than pantheifm. Befides, this ofcillative antagonifm 
between incompatible paradoxes is only a fample of 
feveral which are known of old, to breed inveterate 
difcords in the houfe of abftract fpeculation, It is 
thus that I may be bandied about between idealifm 
and materialifm ; — between a world without fub- 



i 



282 ESSATS, ETC. 



ftance, and a world that is all folid. If the ab- J 
ftra&ive faculty miftakes its function in the intellec- 
tual economy, then an eternal jar is the only confe- J 
quence ; — and better were it to lodge out of doors, 
among the herd, than to be inmate in a manfion 8 
where hufband and wife are wrangling, and driv- 
ing for the maftery, every day, all the year round. 

But this is not the whole of the reafon why, 
after due inquiry, I mould turn away the ear, for 
ever, from the contradictions of thefe abftrufe fpe- | | 
culations. They do not touch, or in any way 
afFedt, the matter in hand. I am in fearch of a 
religion at the impulfe (mainly) of my inftindlive 
belief of the reality of the moral fyftem of which 
I am a member. Now this belief in confcience 
is not an opinion which I may continue to profefs, 
or may ceafe to profefs, in confequence of the 
reading of a book, or the hearing of a courfe of 
le£tures. It is a permanent element of human na- 
ture : — it is common to mankind in all times and 
countries. This inftin£i: flumes the cheek of every i 
fenfitive child, and it prevails over the laborious 
fophiftications of the phiiofopher. This belief is 
cherifhed as an ineftimable jewel by the beft and 
the pureft of human beings ; — and it is bowed to, 
in difmay, by the fouleft and the worft : — its rudi- 
ments are a monition of eternal truth, whifpered 
in the ear of infancy : — its articulate announce- 
ments are a dread foredoom ringing in the ears of 
the guilty adult. You fay you can bring forward 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 283 



a hundred educated men, who, at this time, will 
profefs themfelves to be no believers in a moral 
fyftem ; but I will rebut their teftimony by the 
fpontaneous and accordant voices of as many mil- 
lions of men as you may pleafe to call for, on the 
other fide. 

Therefore, as it concerns the liberty I feel my- 
felf pofTefied of, for accepting the religion of the 
Scriptures, notwithstanding the contradictions of 
pantheifts and atheifts, the ftate of the queftion is 
this : — pantheifm and atheifm cannot both be true, 
but they may both be falfe \ and the refidual pro- 
bability of the truth of the one over the other is, 
at the moft, quite an inappreciable quantity, when 
it is brought to weigh againft a univerfal inftincl: 
of nature — a prime element of the human ftruc- 
ture — an impulfe, and an involuntary perfuafion 
which, if indeed it might be wholly deadened 
within us, would leave man on a level with the 
brute, and men incapable of any focial form of 
exiftence. 

But in the fecond place, the Scriptures, Jewifh 
and Chriftian, are denied to be, in any fpecial 
fenfe, a revelation, or mefTage from God, by thofe 
who affail the proper evidences fupporting their 
claims as fuch. This kind of contradiction I at 
once admit to be pertinent to the queftion in hand, 
and, therefore, to be deaf to it would be not merely 
highly unfafe, but unreafonable. 

If in this Effay I were undertaking the defence 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



of my Biblical faith, as againft all comers, it might 
be required of me to bring into view, in order, 
and to refute, feriatim, the feveral counter-pleas 
which, in thefe times, have been urged as the ,{c; 
grounds of their non-belief by notable writers. 
Inftead of attempting any fuch operofe talk as this, 
I am attempting nothing more than a fetting forth, 
for my individual fatis faction, the grounds on h 
which I receive and bow to the canonical writings, 
and accept the profound myfleries they may con- f \ 
tain, as — o^ohoyou/Asvwg — a meffage and a law, lent 
to me from heaven. 

Now with this view, I may at once releafe my- 
felf from the imagined obligation to examine with 
care and labour thofe fchemes of anti-Chriftian 
opinion which the authors of them have aban- 
doned as impracticable and nugatory, or which 
their fucceffbrs, labouring on the fame field, and 
animated by the fame zeal, have treated with con- 
tempt, or which they ceafe to bring forward. On 
this fafe ground, therefore (after knowing what 
thefe caft-ofF arguments are) I difmifs the entire 
mafs of anti-Chriftian ribaldry and impertinence 1 
which fatisfied the recklefs impiety of Europe ) 
during the times of Voltaire and Roufleau. In j 
like manner, and with a confcioufnefs of fecurity, j 
I ceafe to concern myfelf henceforth, any more, ( 
with that fcheme which, in Germany, for a length i 
of time, was accepted as a fufficient explication of 
the hiftorical enigma concerning the origin of the 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 285 



evangelic memoirs \ the ftory being admitted as 
mainly true, and the writers honeft ; — but the 
fupernatural portions were alleged to be mifcon- 
ceptions on the part of thefe rude and uninftructed 
perfons. This theory has long ago given way to 
a more ftrict critical method : — it is abandoned, 
and in its place there has come up — to be won- 
dered at for a moment — a theory of the Gofpel 
hiftory, boldly conceived and elaborately fet forth, 
but which, under the weight of its own marvellous 
improbability, has filently gone down : — the my- 
thic M Life of Jefus" — is a fcheme which I can 
never make to confift with facts that are as certain 
in my view, as are the events of my own life, laft 
year. This mythic theory is a mafs of incohe- 
rences ; it has however been ferviceable in purg- 
ing the atmofphere of the effluvia of the decayed 
fchemes of the preceding time. 

Moreover, the prodigious painftaking, and the 
ingenuity, and the tempered virulence of this laft 
attempt to rid the world of Chriftianity, have given 
evidence of the extreme difficulty of the talk which 
thole undertake who, on the ground of hiftoric 
criticifm, labour to difengage what is, in their view, 
credible in the Gofpel hiftory, from that which 
they are predetermined to reject as incredible. The 
human mind, advantaged by all imaginable aids of 
learning, has exhaufted its forces in the endeavour 
to rend the fupernatural from off its attachments 
to this hiftory. 



286 



ESSATS, ETC. 



The ftate of the cafe, then, is this: — modern 
criticifm, hiftoric and literary, leaves me in undif- 
puted poffeffion of the books (with two or three 
exceptions) that are included in the Canon — the 
Bible, as I have it. There is not, fo far as I know, 
at this time afloat, any accepted and available anti- 
Chriftian folution of the enigma regarding the ori- 
gin of Chriftianity : non-belief, at this moment, has 
come to a ftand-fiill ; for it has no frefh folution of 
this enigma in readinefs. Then there is this figni- 
ficant indication of the relative merits of the anti- 
Chriftian argument, namely, this — That every 
recent writer (of any mark or note) who has fig- 
nalized himfelf on that fide, and who has fet out 
with a profefied willingnefs to admit as much of 
Chriftianity as he can, has receded further and fur- 
ther from his firft pofition : — he is feen labouring 
to afcend a flippery incline, but at every ftep he 
Aides back, and it is not long before he comes to 
a breathing place — on the dead levels of material 
atheifm, where alone a man may believe that he 
has no further to go. 

For myfelf, inftead of finding the fupernatural 
element in the Biblical writings a difficulty, I 
fhould be met by a difficulty moft perplexing, if I 
were required to receive the religion which I am 
in need of, apart from any fupernatural fealing of 
the documents containing it, and deftitute of an 
authentic fignature. Such a fealing, or (might I 
ufe the word) fuch an endorfement, would be 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 287 



needed even if the revelation related to nothing 
higher than mundane opinions, or every-day rules 
, of conduit ; for I muft poffefs the means of dif- 
tinguifhing thefe enadtments from other opinions 
and rules — like to them, but not the fame. 

When, however, I find that the principal fub- 
jec~l of this written or documentary revelation 
tranfcends, immeafurably far, the range of human 
thought, and that it carries me in meditation 
within the circle of an economy of which I have 
no knowledge by any other means, then, and in 
that cafe, I not merely expect, and defire, and need 
alfo, a fure and ample atteftation of it from on 
high ; but this atteftation, of whatever fort it may 
I be, ftands forward as a part and a fample of that 
which is fo attefted. I mean to fay that thofe 
vifible acts of power which indicate the Divine 
Prefence, are always lefs than the meffage itfelf ; 
and in hearing and accepting the meffage, I have 
already given in my affent to the attendant miracle. 

It depends entirely upon the pofition which I 
take whether miracles, fuch as thofe of the Gofpel 
hiftory, mall ftand before me as matters not to be 
fubmitted to, if by any means I may evade the 
difagreeable neceffity of doing fo ; or, as congruous 
j accompaniments of a difpenfation which is to con- 
| ne£t this prefent world with another — a world in 
j which what here I call miracle, is there order. 

It is, therefore, without repugnance that I 
admit the fupernatural element of the religion 



288 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



which I welcome as the gift of Heaven. But 
now — the atteftation admitted — what is it to which j 
it fhould be held to attach ? What is it to which 
the Divine fignature is indeed appended ? This 
is a queftion which at all times claims an anfwer, 
and which efpecially demands an anfwer at this 
prefent moment. 



SECTION III. 

\ e 

IN accepting the Scriptures of the Old and 
New Teftaments, as conveying a Divine Re- 
velation, and as entitled to a deference which I 
yield to no other writings, ancient or modern, I 
am confronted by a queftion to which fome fort ; 
of anfwer muft be given. Is it everything which 
I find enclofed between the two boards of my \ 
Bible, that I receive and bow to, as fent to me j 
from Heaven, and as fan£tioned by fupernatural 
attestations ? 

Controverfy is rife on this point ; and I find 
honeft and well-informed men giving difcordant 
replies to the queftion ; and thefe replies are uttered I 
often with an eagernefs, and even an afperity, j. 
which is ufual in religious controverfies when, on 
both fides, there is a confcioufnefs of fome incom- 
pletenefs or incoherence in the folution that is 
given of the problem in debate. With the one 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 289 



purpofe in view, which has been profefTed in this 
Efiay, it would feem that I mould hold off from 
ground whereupon fo many combatants are in con- 
flict. Neverthelefs, as I think, there is a ftanding 
room even here, whereupon a belief may be made 
to reft — " controverfy apart." 

The difcuffion which is {till open and undeter- 
mined on the fubject of the " Infpiration of Holy 
Scripture," is the inevitable, as it is the proper 
confequence, firfl, of the greatly advanced ftate of 
the art of criticifm, and pre-eminently, of Biblical 
criticifm. The affiduity, the intelligence, the im- 
proved methods, and the enlarged means, which 
give to this fcience or art its prefent high condi- 
tion of effectivenefs, and of certainty, have drawn 
thoughtful and well-informed men forward infen- 
fibly to take their ftand upon an arena, whence 
fome of them, as it feems, would gladly find a way 
of retreat; but this cannot be. 

This controverfy, in the fecond place^ is a refult, 
in a general way, of that tendency toward fyfte- 
matic completenefs, or, as one might call it^forenjic 
determination, which is a prominent characteriftic 
of thefe times. We hear this utterance on all 
fides — " You fay you believe this and that con- 
cerning the Canonical writings ; tell us, then, pre- 
cifely what it is that you intend, and what it is that 
you believe ; and why you believe it." Nothing 
elfe ought to be looked for, in thefe times, than 
the putting of a queftion of this fort to thofe who 
u 



l 



2go 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



profefs aloud their fubmiffion to the fole and fu- 
preme authority of thefe writings. 

But there is another, and a lefs oftenfible moving 
force to which this prefent controverfy owes much 
of its depth and meaning. Religious thought has 
made a marked advance in thefe times. Religious 
fervour — declining, has, at each retreating ftep, 
meafured the fpace through which religious fenji- 
tivenefs has moved forward ; and at this moment 
we are driven at once to wifh that our perfonal de- 
votion was more cordial than it is, and our relative 
fympathies much lefs alive, than they are; or fuch as 
they were in years paft. This progrefs — and progrefs 
it is, could not have any other refult than to give 
point, or let me fay, poignancy to many queftions, 
that occur in the courfe of Biblical expofition. A 
ftyle of apologetic commentary which the readers of 
Matthew Henry, and of Thomas Scott alfo, were 
content with, does not fatisfy the nicer feelings of 
the religious community at this time. From this 
difcontent, whether it be articulate, or ftifled, there 
arife endlefs difcullions — queftionings that are 
never brought to an iffue, concerning the extent 
and the conditions of that infpiration of Scripture 
which, in general terms, we all acknowledge. 

An ill confequence of this prefent undetermined 
ftate of our belief concerning cc infpiration " is, a 
habit it gives rife to, on the part of the authorized 
expofitors of Scripture, namely, that of quaftiing 
intelligent inquiry, as the fymptom of " an unre- 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 291 

newed nature;" or of evading it, by means of 
explanations which are fatisfa£tory neither to the 
fpeaker himfelf, nor to his hearers. 

What can be done to bring things into a more 
aufpicious pofition ? I will not prefume to anfwer 
this queftion; but, inftead of doing fo, fet forth 
what to myfelf is folid ground of belief — "contro- 
verfy apart." 

As well rid the queftion, at this point, of fuch 
things as admit of no queftion, or of none among, 
honeft and well-informed men. It is certain that 
Biblical criticifm muft purfue its courfe, and muft 
ply its tools in its own manner, hereafter, as in the 
time parTed. It muft do fo freely and manfully, 
and it muft be exempt from that intimidation with 
which fome mindlefs and fuperftitious men are 
fain to arreft its further progrefs. The ftipulation 
which we infift upon, in giving this free fcope to 
erudite criticifm, is only this — that it mail be inge- 
nuous, not petulant or captious ; that it mail be 
ferious in a religious fenfe, and not animated by a 
covert defire to make out a cafe againft the Bible, 
and for the vexation of the religious common- 
wealth. 

Criticifm employs itfelf in making fure the gen- 
uinenefs of books — in reftoring the text of fuch 
books, fo far as the means of doing fo fafely, are in 
our hands. Within the province alfo of criticifm, 
or of its cognate expofitory methods, it comes to 
inquire concerning the canonicity of books fingly 



292 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



confidered, and thus to draw a line that fhall be 
exclufive of all writings in behalf of which no 
claim can be made good, of their direct connec- 
tion with the fupernatural atteftation that gives 
authority to the books included in the canon. 

But it is not within the province of criticifm to 
fit in judgment upon portions of canonical Scrip- 
ture, on the plea that fuch portions contain what 
we do not find it eafy or poffible to reconcile to 
our notions, either of the Divine Attributes, or of 
the abftract fitnefs of things. Rationalifm, in the 
modern fenfe of the phrafe, is the doing this. The 
rationalift provides himfelf with a theology to his 
liking, before he opens his Bible, and to this the- 
ology of his own, all things which he may find 
there muft give way. From any fuch boldnefs as 
this I am held back, firji^ by the confcioufnefs of 
the limited range of the human mind, univerfally, 
as related to the fubjects of religious thought ; and 
then by my individual confcioufnefs, and expe- 
rience alfo, of infirmity of judgment, and more- 
over, by a recollection of thofe diftortions of the 
intellect which have had their rife in the moral 
fentiments, and which may be far greater than I 

am diftinctlv aware of. 

j 

On thefe grounds, therefore, and for other rea- 
fons of a fimilar kind, I reject rationalifm ; yet in 
doing fo, I do not abrogate reafon — reafon in its 
freeft exercife, I take with me ; but it is reafon in 
lijlening and learning — it is not reafon in dictating. 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 293 



On the other hand, in the daily opening of my 
Bible, I put far from me that faulty practice which, 
while it profeffes itfelf to be the antagonift of 
rationalifm, is, in fact, nothing better than another 
phafe of the fame arrogance, and the fame pre- 
emption. What I mean is the technical dogma- 
tifm which infifts that the teaching of Scripture 
mall, in every cafe, mow itfelf to be — part with 
part — in accordance with a predetermined fcheme 
of doctrinal fynthefis. The dogmatift is indeed 
willing to bow his reafon to the authority of Scrip- 
ture ; but he will not fubmit his fcheme of inter- 
pretation to that authority: for this fcheme, though 
he will not allow it, is dearer to him than truth : — 
his logic is his idol. 

In feeking for truth, and in feeking for it in my 
Bible, and in labouring to poffefs myfelf of fo 
much of this ineftimable good as my individual 
infirmity, and the narrow limits of my fpirit may 
be capable of, and in defiring a peaceful and un- 
controverted holding of this truth, I have to look 
out for a principle, or practical rule, that mall 
meet the conditions under which religious truth 
offers itfelf to me in a written revelation — a mef- 
fage from Heaven, which has been configned to a 
collection of books. 

At the outfet, when I give place, even in the 
moft trivial fmgle inftance, to criticifm, and when 
I afk aid from thofe who are accomplifhed in this 
line, and when I accept from them any proper cor- 



294 ESS ATS, ETC. 

re&ion of the document — for example, the emen- 
dation of a paffage that has, in whatever manner, 
become faulty — when I do this, I acknowledge 
that the Bible in my hand is not an audible utter- 
ance of fyllables and words, from the fkies. But 
then this admiffion includes, by neceffity, another 
admiilion, namely, this — that the Divine imparta- 
tion of religious truth has become commingled 
with the human impartation of it ; — or fuch a con- 
veyance of it as is liable to the ordinary conditions, 
or, as we may fay, to the accidents that attach to 
all things mundane — namely, accidents of the 
hand, of the eye, of the ear, of the memory ; as 
well as what depends on habits of verbal exaft- 
nefs, and on the technical habitudes of individual 
human minds. 

A confcioufnefs of this intimate combination 
of what is human, with that which is Divine, in 
the canonical Scriptures, has given rife to many 
imaginary perplexities ; and thefe have fuggefted 
various " Theories of Infpiration," fuch as might 
ferve, either to remove the difficulty a little further 
off, or to conceal the extent of it from our troubled 
fight. Thefe palliative fchemes have been founded 
upon the fuppofition that there are feveral fpecies, 
or feveral degrees of infpiration ; — as, for inftance, 
that of an indefinite control — that of the fuggef- 
tion of thoughts merely, and that of the fuggeftion 
of the very words. But no fuch diftinftions as 
thefe, nor any others which a taxed ingenuity may 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 295 



devife, yield me the aid which they promife. For, 
in the firft place, I find no indication of them in 
the books themfelves : — there is no precautionary 
notice to this effect, fuch as I find on the margin 
of fome patriftic volumes, Caute lege. Thefe mo- 
dern devices are arbitrary, and they are not fufcep- 
tible of proof. Whether any fuch diftindtions are 
true, in fact, or not, I can never know. 

But in the fecond place, even if I believed thefe 
diftinctions to be well-founded, and they may be 
real — it would remain for me to apply them to 
the books, feverally, or to particular chapters, or 
to paragraphs, or to fingle verfes, at my difcretion ; 
and while fo employed, what would take place is 
obvious : — The fcheme itfelf, or this hypothefis of 
a differential infpiration, is, as I may fay, a remedy 
to be employed according to the urgency of the 
cafe : — it is an anodyne, to be ufed by the patient, 
pro re natd; and in the ufe of this, as of every 
kind of alleviation, I mail infenfibly go on from a 
rare, to a frequent recurrence to the dangerous 
preparation. I mall be tempted intemperately to 
avail myfelf of the faving hypothefis, until at length 
my Bible has become, like the Bible of the ra- 
tionalift, a book of leifurely reference, but a book 
of no authority ; and therefore, it will ceafe to 
yield me what I am in fearch of — a religion in 
which I may find reft. 

There is a path before me that is lefs embar- 
rafled than this, and much lefs perilous too. I 



296 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



put far from me the arrogance of the dogmatift 
who, " wife beyond and above what is written/' 
has fixed the limits beyond which the Divine 
Nature — the Infinite, may not ftoop in its 
correfpondence with the finite nature. That this 
condefcenfion may go far, is a fa£t that is made 
confpicuous in the very conditions of a written 
revelation ; and this fa£t I fully recognize in allow- 
ing criticifm, in its own way, to do its office. But 
I recognize this fa£t or principle to a further ex- 
tent, when I allow hiftorical criticifm at all to 
difcufs or confider queftions concerning quotations 
of the ancient Scriptures in the Chriftian Scrip- 
tures ; or concerning the exa£tnefs of any fingle 
hiftorical ftatement. 

To thefe extents modern Biblical criticifm is 
allowed to go, without rebuke ; or without rebuke 
from reafonable and inftru£ted men. But where 
are we to flop ? Should hiftorical criticifm alfo 
be left to take its courfe without prohibition ? Or 
ftiould any liberty at all be granted to logical cri- 
ticifm ? 

I find that if I were to go about to frame an 
anfwer to thefe queftions, this anfwer muft be 
made to reft upon the above-mentioned dogmatic 
ground of my prefuming to know the limits which 
the Divine Wifdom muft prefcribe for itfelf in 
holding communion with man. I tremble to think 
of attempting to define thefe limits, or to make any 
fuch conditions; I define nothing, I infift upon 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 297 

no terms, I plant no hedge of my own around the 
Almighty ; and therefore I am not careful to give 
any reply to the above-named queftions. 

But if not, then do I not fet wide open the 
door of rationalifm ? — nay — I clofe it faft, and for 
ever. What I infift upon is a firm, and a tho- 
roughly rational hold of the proper hiftoric evi- 
dence attefting the fupernatural element of the 
r revelation which is conveyed in the canonical 
writings. So far as I have feeh, it is the want of 
any fuch peremptory conviction, and of this clear- 
headed and firm-handed grafp of the fails of the 
Bible hiftory — it is a confufed, and a wavering, 
and an ill-digefted belief in the reality of that 
hiftory, whence come the pious alarms, and the 
jealoufies, and the petulant outcries of unthinking 
religious perfons, who denounce as a heretic every 
man who knows more than they know, and dares 
I ' to fay it. 

Let criticifm upon Holy Scripture make " full 
proof of its miniftry — let it do its office without 
fear or intimidation : criticifm, literary, hiftoric, 
and logical (if there be room for this). If criti- 
cifm becomes captious, irreverent, finifter in its 
aims ; if it fhows itfelf to be irreligious at heart, 
then I ceafe to liften to it. But fo long as it is 
right-minded, and ingenuous, and is regardful of 
our firft principle — that we have in hand a fuper- 
natural revelation — fo long as criticifm is thus 
minded, I welcome its advances : — it can do me 



298 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



no poffible harm : — it may render me ineftimable 
fervices ; and while it walks by my fide, I have 
no tremours, as if phantoms were at hand. 

I read my Bible by the lamp of criticifm as 
often as I may think it ufeful to do fo. But 1 J 
read my Bible daily, in the clear daylight of its 
own effulgence. Shall I afk for a rule, for a for- 
mula, like thofe of a fchool-book, according to 
which I am to difcern between the Divine and 
the human in Holy Scripture ? Idle pedantry J 
were this, and how fuperfluous ! I need no rule, 
when I walk forth, under the fplendour of noon, 
and gaze upon the vifible manifeftations of the 
wifdom and goodnefs of the Creator. I fall into 
no errors in fetting off the works of man, which 
mix themfelves with the works of God, in this 
profpeft. I know thefe at a glance, by their fami- 
liar chara£teriftics. I pafs my judgment upon 
them freely : — meantime that which indeed is Di- 
vine in the objedts around me has its own inimi- J; 
table afpedl — its own indubitable chara&eriftics — 
the things of God fpeak aloud their authorfhip : I 
am troubled by no perplexities. I afk not the help 
of the interpreter to make me fure that the works 
of God are indeed — the works of God. 

If this be metaphor, it is more than metaphor, 
for the inftances, although they are two in form, i 
are identical in fubftance. You may demand in | 
the one cafe, or in the other, a fharply defined 
difcriminative teft, by application of which I may 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY 299 



! preclude all chance of miftake, nor ever incur the 
rifle of attributing to God, that which belongs to 
man — or the contrary. All fuch alarms are unne- 
I ceflary : — a daily and devout perufal of Holy Scrip- 
j ture brings with it its own difcriminative faculty — 
I a perception, or I might call it, a taff^ a tafte, and 
a fenfe of congruity which will feldom lead an 
I intelligent Chriftian man aftray. Or fuch errors 
i as he may fall into will not, in any appreciable 
degree, affe£r. the large refult of his confeioufnefs 
j of religious truth. 



SECTION IV. 

AT the inftigation of the moral fenfe, and 
upon the demand of emotions that are in- 
ftin£tive and univerfal, and at the prompting of 
forebodings which philofophy can neither difperfe 
nor fatisfy, I have come to feek for an authenti- 
cated religion — a religion counterfigned in Hea- 
| ven. I have found it in the Scriptures of the Old 
\ and New Teftaments. And it is not only that I 
am willing to receive my religious beliefs from the 
I Bible, for I ought to fay that — after an induftrious 
I inquiry concerning this atteftation, the liberty to 
i hold myfelf loofe from it, is gone ! It is a necef- 
! fity of a fully inftru&ed reafon that binds this be- 
lief upon me. It would be a lefs corre£t exprellic I 



300 ESS ATS, ETC. 

to fay — after due inquiry, I confent to retain my 
faith in Holy Scripture ; for the ftrift ftatement of 
the cafe is this — after inquiry, renewed often and 
at different epochs of life, and after liftening to 
many pleadings on the other fide — after this, it is 
not that I hold the Bible ; it is the Bible that holds 
me. Any other ftatement of the cafe, or any 
foftening of it, to fave my pride, is — a delufion. 

Of what fort, then, is the reply which I gather 
from my Bible to what muft be my foremoft quef- 
tion, as it is my chief anxiety ? How is it as to the 
reality of the moral fyftem ? How is it as to the 
truth of the univerfal inftin£ts of mankind con- 
cerning good and evil, praife and blame, reward 
and punifhment ? How is it concerning my prof- 
pe£t of well-being or of ruin in a future life ? 
Thefe queftions, or any others virtually contained 
in thefe, are foon anfwered. 

Holy Scripture, from its firft pages to its laft, 
is a fpreading forth of the rudiments of the moral 
economy. The reality, and the unalterable per- 
manence, and the inexorable force of whatfoever 
has a moral meaning — this is the import of all 
things therein contained, whether it be hiftory, or 
formal teaching. Whatever I read in dire£l pro- 
portions, and whatever I gather by inference, has 
this fame meaning. And there is a confecutive 
accordance of innumerable affirmations of the fame 
truth. 

Book after book, page after page, verfe after 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 301 



• verfe, aflumes as certain the reality of whatever is 
: of a moral quality. Ordinarily this is affumed, 
I and on a few occafions it is declared in form ; but 
never is it argued as if it were queftionable, or as 
j if it had ever been queftioned : never is it excufed; 
never is an apology offered in behalf of what it 
may imply. Nowhere do I find any covert indi- 
cations given me of a path of abftract thought in 
following which I may — if by conftitution of mind 
I need it — work out the problems of the moral 
univerfe for myfelf. 

Inftead of this, I am met at the outfet by the 
fact that, the one oriental family, to which, at the 
firft, were " committed the oracles of God," was, 
throughout the period of its national religious ex- 
iftence, confcious only of the concrete forms of 
thought, and was wholly unconfcious of its ab- 
ftracl or philofophic forms. This " election " 
doubtlefs had its pfychological fignificance ; and 
when I look into Philo I fee a curious inftance 
of that torturing of the national intellect which 
; could not but take place when the Jew afpired to 
:hink and write as the Greek. 

Throughout the Scriptures the First Truth 
.n theology is conveyed in terms of the moral fyjiem; 
and very rarely in any other terms ; nor ever 
n thofe of abftracl: thought. It might have been 
jallowable, forty years ago, on the part of hopeful 
( ntellectualifts, to imagine that a fcientific theology 
.vould, at length, be educed, and fet forth in pro- 



302 



ESSATS, ETC. 



pofitions of a purely theoretic order. But no one 
can now entertain this hope who has followed the 
courfe of what is called metaphyfics, throughout 
that period, and up to this prefent time. The refult 
of the earneft endeavours of the choiceft minds of 
Germany, France, and England, is this — to de- 
monftrate the fa£t that a religious revelation of the 
Infinite and Absolute Being is not pollible 
in any other mode than that which is employed 
by the infpired writers — the earlier of them, and 
the later. 

And not only have thefe writers given to the 
world the only poffible revelation of the Divine 
Nature, but they have, at their firft elTay, reached 
the higheft poffible expreffion of it. That it is fo 
there is at hand a very fignificant proof. Vaft — 
prodigioufly voluminous, is that amount of coxn- 
mentative labour of which the Jewifh and Chrif- 
tian Scriptures have been the text. In attempting 
to compafs, in thought, this body of expofitory 
induftry — evoked in the courfe of more than two 
thoufand years — the mind is quite overwhelmed 
and loft. That portion of this perennial toil 
which may now be extant upon our fhelves, is 
nothing more than a fragmentary fample of the 
entire mafs ; for befides this fpecimen, treafured 
in books, extant^ there is the greater mafs, once 
configned to books, but long fince gone down to 
the abyfs. Yet even if all were now before us 
which the pen had for a while conferved, we 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 303 



fhould need to add the far larger quantity — and 
much of it not lefs worthy of preservation, which 
has uttered itfelf within halls and churches, from 
week to week, throughout this great extent of 
time, but which has not outlived its own echoes. 
Thus has the human mind exhaufted itfelf in the 
ever-to-be-renewed labour of fpreading out to view 
the utmoft meaning of Scripture — Scripture as the 
expreffion of what man may know, or conceive 
of, concerning God. 

What, then, is the upmot ? Has the original 
revelation become an obfolete rudiment, giving 
place to what all muft now accept as an improved 
expreffion of the fame elementary principles ? No- 
thing of this fort has taken place ; but inftead of 
it, there has been, from time to time, an emphatic 
return to the purely Biblical expreffion of the 
higheft truths, after each ephemeral enterprife, to 
give to thefe truths what was thought to be a 
more exalted, or a more refined expreffion of them, 
has had its feafon. If it were not befide my pur- 
pofe, I mould find it eafy to bring forward as 
many as feven diftinctly-marked and well-recorded 
endeavours of this fort, which have flared up for 
a while, and prefently have gone out : and now, 
at this time, the decifive tendency of the beft- 
trained minds is to return, with a zeft, as if im- 
pelled equally by religious feeling, and by correct 
and cultured tafte — to what ? — to the Biblical ex- 
preffion of the higheft truths in theology. 



3°4 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



It muft not be pretended that this adhefion of 
all minds to the Bible, and to its ftyle, is the mere 
confequence of an opinion of its facrednefs and 
authority. It is not fo. Nothing is more certain 
in human affairs than this, that a better, or a more 
fully-developed form of what is fubftantially true, 
difplaces, or fuperfedes, the more ancient or crude 
form of the fame truths. In the long run, that 
which is antiquated and imperfect gives place to 
that upon which the men of a later time have 
laboured to good purpofe. Tried by the teft 
which this fad: fupplies, I return to my propofi- 
tion — That the Bible writers have given to the 
world, not merely the only poffible revelation of 
the Divine Nature, but have given us this reve- 
lation in its molt mature form, and in that condi- 
tion which we muft continue to receive ; or if 
not, muft rejedt, not only revelation altogether, 
but theology alio. 

So much of the knowledge of God as I may be 
capable of admitting, I therefore look for in my 
Bible ; and I ceafe to look for it from any other 
quarter — I mean from any conceivable future 
achievements of the human mind. The Scrip- 
tures thus accepted, become to me the fource of 
religious truths, or, as we fay, doctrines and pre- 
ceptive principles of all kinds. Thefe principles 
and do£trines I am compelled to think and fpeak 
of dijlributively^ or according to an artificial order 
or method ; yet while doing fo, I well underftand 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 305 



that doctrines and precepts, the feveral articles of 
a creed, and the feveral rules of conduct, are not 
many items, but one Divine element, diverfely 
uttered, to fuit the limitations of reafon, and the 
changing occafions of life. 

Thus, by necejjlty^ we think of the Divine At- 
tributes, and, in doing fo, ftumble upon perplex- 
ities which, though they are unreal, are not to be 
evaded. Juft at this point a knowledge of abftract 
fcience, or intellectual philofophy, may be fervice- 
able ; for it may enable me to fet myfelf clear of 
each fpecial perplexity , by finding that it refolves 
itfelf into the one mafter problem of the relation 
of the finite to the Infinite. If the problem 
which ftands foremoft in philofophic thought were 
folved, none of the included problems would 
thenceforward give us any trouble : thus, there- 
fore, I may remove from the roadway of the reli- 
gious life difficulties which belong to another path, 
namely, the path of ultimate abftractions. 

On this ground, therefore, I accept from Scrip- 
ture what I firft need, while in fearch of a place 
of reft ; — namely, a confirmation of the inftinctive 
belief in the reality of the moral fyftem, and of 
my relationfhip thereto, and of whatever confe- 
quences, however formidable, which this relation- 
fhip may bring with it. Thus far it is not reft ; 
but difquiet that attends me. 



x 



3°6 



ESSATS, ETC. 



SECTION V. 

LET it be that criticifm has taken its courfe 
upon the text of Scripture without reflec- 
tion, and free from intimidation ; but in the exer- 
cife of this liberty it muft not arrogate what can 
never belong to it, nor affume a right to ftand 
between me and the product of my Bible-reading 
at large. There muft be — a definite refult, thence 
to be derived :— there muft be a main intention 
in the Scriptures : — along with many things that 
are incidental, there muft be that which is prin- 
cipal, that which is of the higheft moment — that 
for the fake of which, and to teach it, the Bible 
has been given me ; and which I fhall not fail to 
find there, unlefs by grievous fault or negligence, 
on my own part. 

At this point I wifli, beyond miftake, to feel 
that I have a fure path. If the various writings 
making up the Biblical Canon were mifcellaneous 
fummaries of religious fentiment, and of dida£tic 
ethics — then, and in that cafe, they would not 
have needed the atteftation of miracles : the fuper- 
natural accompaniment would have encumbered, 
more than it could recommend, fuch a revelation. 
But I do find this accompaniment, and therefore 
I look for that which muft need it, and which I 
could not accept with an aflured belief of its 
Divine reality, unlefs it were fo attefted. 



WITHOUT CONTROVERST. 307 



In feeking, then, for that which I may receive as 
indeed the principal intention of Scripture, and as 
the final caufe of its miraculous accompaniment, I 
take for my guidance two rules, the firft of which 
is this — That as this revelation offers itfelf to me 
as a good — a boon — a conveyance of ineftimable 
benefits — a gratuity, not merited or claimable by 
me, it mull undoubtedly have been given in all 
fincerity ; and it muft fuppofe a correfpondent in- 
genuoufnefs and uprightnefs on my part, who am 
to be the recipient of fo free a gift. That reve- 
rent regard with which I may feem to liften to a 
meflage from Heaven is little better than a dif- 
guifed impiety, unlefs it fprings from a full confi- 
dence in the good faith of Him who fpeaks. As 
to the perplexities that have troubled me in my 
religious courfe, moft of them have arifen from an 
unconfcious diftruft, or want of confidence in the 
good faith of Him who fpeaks. If queftioned on 
this point, I fhould have repelled the imputation — 
" Do you indeed miftruft the Most High ? " — 
No : how can you impute to me fuch folly, and 
fuch impiety ? So I might retort ; and I may 
believe that the imputation is groundlefs. Never- 
thelefs the fufpicion which I difown in formal 
terms, creeps upon me when I am not thinking 
! of it. 

Thofe efpecially who have lived among books, 
and who, as a habit of their intelle&ual life, have 
been ufed to put themfelves into the pofition of an 



3 o8 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



opponent, fo as to give the fullefl: weight to a 
contrary opinion — fuch perfons find it difficult to 
read their Bible in undiverted remembrance of 
what it is, namely — a Divine MeiTage. And yet 
I take it as fuch at the moment when I aflent to 
its fupernatural atteftations. This proper recol- 
lection, therefore, is the reafon of my firft rule, in 
the reading of Scripture — That, as it is given me 
for my benefit, it rauft be given in all fincerity by 
Him whofe air I breathe, and who fends me, daily, 
my daily bread. It is clear that unlefs I am war- 
ranted in reading my Bible with this feeling of a 
pure religious ingenuoufnefs, a written revelation 
can be of no fervice to me : otherwife read, it 
muft keep me for ever on the rack of doubt and 
uncertainty : far better be rid of it altogether. 
This therefore is my determination, namely — To 
feek the Principal Intention of Scripture, in a 
perfeft confidence that it has been worded in good 
faith. 

The fecond rule, available in the reading of 
Scripture, and which is no lefs certain in my view 
than the firft, is this — That the infpired books 
will not teach, or in any way fuggeft, a fenfe that 
{hall be dire£lly at variance with the moft confpi- 
cuous purport, or foremoft axiom of the whole 
revelation. 

This rule, certain as it is, might eafily be mif- 
applied. It does not mean this — -That my indi- 
vidual reafon, or that human reafon at large, mould 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 309 



affume the right to accept, or to reject, what is 
affirmed in Scripture, becaufe it is conformable, 
or not conformable, to its previous conclufions. 
Nor does this rule mean, that I mould refift any- 
Biblical doctrine on account of its apparent con- 
trariety to other Biblical doctrines. The firft of 
thefe errors is that of the rationalift ; the fecond 
is that of the dogmatift ; — and both errors fpring 
from a fimilar mifapprehenfion as to the powers, 
and the range of the human mind, in relation to 
religious principles. 

The rule means this — That the Scriptures will 
not, whether on the very fame page, or on pages 
remote from each other, bring the primary fenti- 
ments of the religious life into a pofition of irrecon- 
cileable conflict, fo as that no other releafe from dif- 
fraction of mind can be found, except that of a ftate 
of indifference, or religious unconfcioufnefs. The 
inftance is near at hand. I have no choice but 
this : — I muft either attribute to certain confpi- 
cuous, and often-cited pafTages in the Gofpels and 
Epiftles their plenitude of meaning, in conformity 
with the laws of language, and the admitted prin- 
ciples of textual criticifm ; or if I refufe to do 
this, then I muft feek an affuagement of the moft 
diftracting perplexities in the ftupe faction of the 
religious emotions, and in courting whatever diver- 
fions I can find in a fenfuous, or a frivolous life, 
or in a cold intellectualifm. Is it not fo ? The 
Bible — the Old Teftament, and the New — is a 



3io 



ESSATS, ETC. 



continuous and ftern condemnation of the ancient 
error of the nations in their polytheifm ; and it is 
a rebuke of that inveterate perverfity which trans- 
fers to a created power- — feen or unfeen — that 
regard, and that truftful confidence, which is due 
to the One, the Supreme Being, To err on 
this ground is perdition : to be rent by ambiguous 
influences, or counter-motives, is wretchednefs 5— 
or it is fo unlefs I feek relief in indifference. But 
the import of the evangelic, and of the apoftolic 
writings is to this effe£t — that the higheft religious 
regard, and a full and truftful confidence, are due 
to Him, perfonally, who is therein fet forth as the 
Deliverer of men— the Christ — the Saviour of 
the world. 

It would be moft difficult — it would be impof- 
fible — for me to maintain, in my thoughts and 
feelings, a diftinclion, fetting off the latria from 
the hyperdulia, on this ground, even if I were 
aided in attempting it by any apoftolic explanations, 
and were impelled to do it by folemn and reite- 
rated cautions. But there are no fuch aids given 
me — there is not one fuch : — there are no fuch 
cautions appended to paflages which feem to de- 
mand them : — there is not one fuch. There is no 
phrafe which elfewhere in Scripture is appropriated 
to the higheft religious ufes, that does not find a 
place alfo among thofe exhortations, the intention 
of which is to fix the thoughts upon the power and 
grace of the Saviour Chrift. Inftead of a caution, 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 311 



where it Ihould come, if it ought to come at all, 
what I find is emphafis — intenfity — accumulation 
of epithets ; — the purpofe of all being fuch as can 
find its reafon in nothing — fhort of the uncondi- 
tioned meaning of thofe paffages which bring the 
Person — the Christ, into view, as the objedt of 
worfhip — even of the higheft worftiip of which 
the human fpirit is capable. 

That it fliould be fo is indeed — o^oXoyov^svccg — 
a "great myftery." How does it tranfcend all 
faculties of human thought to grafp it, or to find 
its folution, or to bring it within the compafs of 
any known analogies ! Neverthelefs it is the 
myftery, and it is the condition of the only pofiible 
religious exiftence. Clearly it is fo, for the uni- 
form teftimony of experience, within the Chriftian 
community, is to eftablifti the law that every at- 
tempted abatement of this belief, whether by theo- 
logic fpeculation, or by the application of excep- 
tive criticifm to fingle paflages, takes effe£t upon 
the religious life — to lower it, to render it ambi- 
guous, and perplexed, and feeble, and to induce a 
temper that is captious, and faftidious, and diftruft- 
ful. The produ£t of fuch attempts has, in every 
inftance, been a religion, the chara&eriftic of which 
is the irreligioufnefs of its tone, and of its language. 

An inftrudted Chriftian man, when he accepts, 
as indeed true, that which the apoftolic writers 
plainly affirm concerning the Perfon of Chrift, will 
not fail to look back through the courfe of time, and 



312 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



inquire in what manner this fame Biblical tefti- 
mony has taken effeft upon religious minds, from 
the firft years of Chriftian hiftory, to thefe laft 
years. It is not in diftruft of the Scriptures that 
I may wifli to make this inquiry ; it is more in 
diftruft of myfelf, and it is as prompted by a proper 
diffidence that, when a truth fo tranfcendant is 
put in my view, I ftiould feek to know how it has 
been regarded by thofe who, in long feries, have 
gone before me. I profefs to believe in " the 
holy Catholic Church," and " the communion of 
faints :" — I believe, therefore, that Chriftianity 
has realized itfelf, from age to age, in the mind 
and affe&ions of a great company of men, varioufly 
trained, and varioufly minded in all things; but yet 
of one mind as to their acceptance of whatever 
may be the principal meaning of the Scriptures. 

Thus thinking, I look back and find that the 
orthodox faith, concerning the Perfon of Chrift, 
has fuftained itfelf in its controverfy with each 
fucceffive denial of it, by a diredt appeal to the 
apoftolic writings, on this principle, that Scripture 
has been worded in good faith, and that our part 
is to read it with a correfponding ingenuoufnefs. 
On the other hand, thofe who have laboured to 
eftablifh an abated, or a contrary belief, have been 
thrown upon the refources of their individual fkill 
and ingenuity ; and although thefe might feem to 
avail them in fingle inftances, it could only be by 
deftroying our confidence in the good faith, or the 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 313 



intelligence of the Apoftolic writers. In review- 
ing the hiftory of the controverfy concerning this 
— " the great myftery of godlinefs " — from the 
ante-Nicene age to this, the fame characteristics 
of evafivenefs and of fubtile ingenuity attach to 
the fide of (what is conventionally called) herefy ; 
and yet with this difference, that whereas the early 
opponents of orthodoxy, when compelled to {hi ft 
their ground, ftill betook themfelves to pofitions 
within the pale of Biblical authority — their fuc- 
ceffors, in later times, have receded, from point 
to point, more and more remote from that autho- 
rity. At the prefent moment thofe who maintain 
orthodoxy, do fo in maintaining alfo the integrity 
and the fimplicity of the Scriptures : — thofe who 
aflail and rejeft what they defignate as — a " dry 
Athanafianifm," in doing fo, difallow the Apoftolic 
commiffion to teach men, as with authority from 
Heaven. 

At this time I mould fcarcely find an ingenuous 
opponent who would not allow that the queftion 
of orthodoxy has refolved itfelf into the previous 
queftion concerning the Evangelic and Apoftolic 
writings as determinative in religious controverfy. 
No voice is now heard in court as reprefentative 
of thofe who, in times gone by, have pleaded for 
an intermediate belief concerning the Perfon of 
Chrift. All argumentation of this order has long 
ago gone to wreck; — there is therefore, on the one 
fide — this orthodox belief — and on the other fide 



3H 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



— what is it ? If in candour and fincerity I afe 
myfelf what there is — -I can find no anfwer which 
faves the authority of the Scriptures, or which 
diftinguifhes them in any fenfe from other records 
of human opinion. Chriftianity, as a revelation 
— means nothing, if it does not mean the faith 
which has been profeffed in all times by the great 
body of Chriftian men. 



SECTION VI. 

AS is the recipient, fuch muft be the product 
of any teaching. Efpecially does this con- 
dition take effect when truths that are as much 
beyond the grafp of the moft capacious minds, as 
of the meaneft, are fymbolized in words, and con- 
denfed in propofitions. The difference will be 
this, that what is fo embodied carries a meaning 
to the one mind which moves it to its depths ; 
while to another mind the fame form of words is 
nothing more than what the ear admits—" a form 
of words " — a dead letter, or a letter that killeth 
— a word that deadens even what might have 
feemed to be alive. 

" A dry and wordy Trinitarianifm " is, in 
fa£l, a creed which, by fome accident of a man's 
pofition, has come to lodge itfelf in a " dry and 
wordy fpirit the aridity, the ftiffnefs, the wordi- 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 315 



nefs, are all in the foul ; they are neither in the 
proportions, nor in the things fpoken of. If the 
orthodoxy which I profefs is to me a barren for- 
mula, I ought to know that the very fame ftate of 
the feelings which forbids my receiving light, and 
life, and comfort, from my confeiTion of faith, 
fheds darknefs alfo, and difcomfort, upon every 
element of the religious life. Yet there is fome- 
thing more than mere lifeleffhefs, which intervenes 
between me and a cordial acceptance of what 
mould next follow in conftituting a Chriftian be- 
lief ; for there is a repugnance, the exiftence of 
which, whether it be latent or avowed, will not 

fail to betrav itfelf. 

j 

I believe in " the forgivenefs of fins." Yes, 
afluredly ; I muji do fo ; for we are all in fault ; 
and I too am fo, no doubt : — I do not profefs to 
be better than others ; but if I am to accept par- 
don, I ought to know the conditions ; and I fhould 
take time to confider the terms of peace : I mould 
ftipulate on the ground of my juft pretenfions. 
Few of us would choofe to put feelings of this fort 
into words ; and yet there are few who could 
truthfully declare that no fuch feelings had ever 
found a lurking-place in their hearts. A confciouf- 
nefs of fuch rifings of nature might fuffice, even 
without the citation of texts, as proof that man is 
indeed "far gone from original righteoufnefs 
and that the whifperings of a difturbed confcience 
prevail to hide from him the humiliating reality of 



316 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



his own moral condition. If I take up in turn 
the feveral pleas, many as they are, which, in all 
time, have been urged as conclufive objedtions to 
the Biblical do&rine of the pardon of fin : — each 
of them has its fource plainly in thofe delufions of 
felf-love, which, while acknowledging an obliga- 
tion to the requirements of impartial juftice, infift 
upon terms, as if there were a counter plea which 
ought to be liftened to. 

But now, if I put far from me, and rejedt, and 
refufe, every fuch fuggeftion of pride, and if, in a 
mood which undoubtedly muft be proper to me, 
I take up the Scriptures, allured as I am that there 
is therein conveyed a meffage of grace — worded in 
good faith — if fo, then a queftion cannot arife as 
to the import of the many paffages that bear on 
this principal fubjeft. No fhadow of doubt at- 
taches to that often-recurrent affirmation concern- 
ing the purpofe of the death of Chrift — fuffering 
— as fuffering to fave, when He " made His foul 
an offering for fin." Already I have accepted 
from the infpired writers their ineffable do&rine 
concerning the Perfon of Chrift ; but this doftrine 
finds its complementary truth in that which I now 
accept as alfo the meaning of the fame writers, 
concerning the purpofe of His death. The firft 
truth demands the fecond, nor can it find its inter- 
pretation in the teaching merely, or in the Divine 
example of virtue and wifdom ; nor otherwife is 
it to be underftood than as it is related to His 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 317 



vicarious death upon the Crofs. It is here, and it 
is at no point Ihort of it, that the troubled human 
fpirit finds reft. It is at this point, where the 
fpeculative reafon confcioufly meets a limit it can 
never pafs — it is here that the meditative mind — 
the awakened moral confcioufnefs, acknowledges 
its home. Here the foul may abide : — here may 
man tranquilly, if not joyfully, await the final iffues 
of the future life. Here, without difmay, is it pof- 
fible for the kindling immortal fpirit to look on 
to the dread moment of its fummons into the 
Divine Prefence. 

I revert to what I have juft before faid of the 
Biblical mode of conveying to the human mind fo 
much as may be conveyed concerning the Divine 
Nature. This teaching is moft often in terms 
of the moral economy ; — never is it attempted in 
thofe of abftracl: thought, or of philofophy. The 
infpired writers, in giving expreflion to human 
conceptions of the Natural Attributes (fo we 
fpeak !) of God — His creative power and wifdom, 
His omnifcience, and omniprefence, and the like, 
do fo in phrafes that are manifeftly tropical, and 
fuch, that, in fact, they are never mifunderftood, 
unlefs by infants, or by adults, infantile in mind. 
I thus read — " The eye of the Lord is in every 
place, beholding the evil and the good." But is 
this mode of teaching theology a condefcenfion — 
is it an accommodation, having in view the benefit 
of the unphilofophic multitude ? This may have 



318 ESS ATS, ETC. 

been imagined, and though not giving words to fo 
fupercilious a feeling, I might have thought that 
— if a Bible, or if a fupplementary theologic trea- 
tife had been granted, for me, and for a few others, 
of my clafs — men trained in abftra£tions — in that 
cafe, we, enjoying a book to ourfelves y and flattered 
by the gift, mould have found the elements of theo- 
logy conveyed in terms familiar to our habits of 
thought, and lefs rude than are thofe of the Scrip- 
tures at large. No fuch upper-clafs treatife as this 
— no fuch book for the privileged intelle&ualift, 
is included in the canon : it is not there ; nor could 
it in the nature of things have been provided for 
me ; for there is no mundane dialedt which could 
have been made the medium of it : there are none, 
born of women, who could have worded it ; there 
is no college of philofophers competent to any fuch 
talk as that of framing a theology in abftra£l terms 
of the finite reafon. I take my Bible in hand 
therefore, not as if it were a book which, being 
gracioufly intended for the unlearned multitude, 
I may be willing to read condefcendlngly : — not fo, 
for the Bible gives expreffion to the knowledge 
of the Infinite Being, in that mode which is 
demanded by the univerfal limitations of the 
human mind. Let me not praftife any fond illu- 
fion upon myfelf in this matter. And undoubt- 
edly it is better for me, as for others, that the 
conveyance of the firfl: truths in theology Ihould 
be made in thofe terms that are manifeftly tropical^ 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 319 



and which I muft know at once to be allufive and 
analogical, than that it fhould be given in terms 
that would feem to have been carefully and art- 
fully conco&ed, but which, by their very avoid- 
ance of tropes and figures, would feduce me into 
the notion that I was receiving from them a dire ft 
knowledge of the Infinite and the Absolute 
Being. In fo reading a hyper-wrought theology, 
I mould be led away upon a path of pofitive and 
dangerous error. In reading the Scriptures fuch 
as they are, the Infinite and Supreme is fym- 
bolized to me in a mode which, while it fecures 
the religious end intended, fuggefts no error of a 
fpeculative kind. As for inftance : — it is good 
and needful for me to be told, by authority, that 
u the eyes of the Lord are in every place, behold- 
ing the evil and the good." But now let me go 
to work, and attempt to put this truth concerning 
the Divine Omnifcience into the moft approved 
form of philofophical expreffion \ let me condenfe 
it, and let me expand it, and let me fence it off" 
from its contraries, on every fide. I mail not 
have finifhed my tafk until I have gone deep into 
that raylefs abyfs in the midft of which a true 
theology, and a ghaftly atheifm look fo much alike, 
that I am in danger, every moment, of miftaking 
the one for the other. Again, it is highly fervice- 
able to me — in truth, it is a neceffary condition of 
the religious life — that I mould have a firm belief 
in the efficacy of prayer, and in the reality of that 



3 2o ESS ATS, ETC. 

Providential Government of all things, which is 
the complementary Biblical doctrine, involved in 
the belief that prayer is efficacious. The two 
beliefs, while they fpring up irrefiftibly in the 
human mind, are affumed as certain on every page 
of the infpired writings. Innumerable paffages 
give expreffion to thefe two elements of piety. 
But in every in fiance they are conveyed in the 
terms of the finite^ both as to the fuppliant recipient 
of favours, and not lefs fo^ as to the Hearer of 
prayer, and the Giver of good things. I ought, 
with efpecial care, to keep in view this fa£t at this 
time, inafmuch as a nugatory philofophy has gone 
fo far to entangle thefe religious elements with 
abftraCtions wherewith they have no inner con- 
nection — no connection at all. 

This, then, is the ground on which I accept, 
from the infpired writers, what they teach con- 
cerning the death of Chrift — dying as the Saviour 
of the world. I find it is not in figures of one kind 
only that the meaning of Scripture on this mo- 
mentous fubjeft is exprefied ; but in figures derived 
from three or four fources. Whatever there may 
be in the tranfa£tions of our focial exiftence which 
may be made convertible to the purpofe of teach- 
ing fo tranfcendant a do£lrine as that which it fo 
much concerns us to learn, is, either by Chrift 
Himfelf, or by His infpired fervants, fo made avail- 
able for this purpofe. 

When I examine this fymbolic phrafeology in 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 321 



detail, it becomes evident that there is not one of 
thefe tropical terms which I can imagine to be, 
by itfelf, adequate to the occafion on which it is 
employed. If it were indeed adequate to its 
fubjecT:, there would be no room for other terms, 
or fymbols ; but there are feveral others ; and each 
muft find its place in the teaching to which I am 
to liften. 

But what is the treatment which I (hould 
give to thefe fymbols ? Am I at liberty to fay — 
Thefe are figures, they are metaphors, in the 
oriental ftyle, and as fuch, if I am in fearch of 
their exact import, they muft be fhorn of much 
of their apparent value. The very contrary of 
this fhould, as I think, be the rule of interpreta- 
tion in the cafe. Oriental writers do indeed in- 
dulge themfelves in the ufe of extravagant fimiles 
when they are framing adulations for the ear of 
potentates ; but this is not the ftyle of the Biblical 
writers ; and when they are teaching theology in 
terms and phrafes proper to the finite mind, which 
are the only terms available, or, indeed, pojjible, 
they accumulate fuch figurative terms as fubftl- 
tutes for terms of the Infinite. Thus, in teach- 
ing what they teach concerning the Divine Power 
— they fay of the Moll High, fuch things as thefe : 
That He taketh up the ifles, as a very little 
thing y that with Him, the mountains are only as 
the fmall duft of the balance ; that He ftays the 
raging of the fea, and fays to its proud waves — 

Y 



322 ESSATS, ETC. 

Thus far mall ye go, and no further. They fay 
of God — That He fpreadeth forth the heavens as 
a tent to dwell in ; and that as a garment, fome 
time hence, He mall roll them together. Thefe 
figures, ought they then to receive a retrenched 
interpretation ? Ought they to be denuded of 
their oriental garb ? Not fo, for if I am willing 
to take up David's genuine theology, and to read 
it off in the light of my modern aftronomy, then 
I mall find that thefe fymbols — true and fublime 
as they are, demand now, an interpretation which 
immeafurably furpaffes what was included in the 
largeft conceptions of the Hebrew king ; thefe 
metaphors are cumulative terms of the finite, 
employed for teaching me truths, concerning the 
Infinite, which could neither be taught, nor 
learned, in any other manner, whether by me, or 
by the loftieft and the largeft of human minds. 
Nay, if on this arduous ground I might allow 
myfelf to fpeculate at all, I mould incline to be- 
lieve that, in an upper world, and in the fchools 
where immortal intellects receive their training, 
the theology current among them is, from its be- 
ginning to its end, delivered in tropes and figures, 
which are known and acknowledged to be fuch : 
the difference between the teaching on Earth, 
and the teaching in Heaven, being this — that 
whereas we, in the dark, are for ever beating about 
among our abftradions, and are vainly labouring 
to ftretch them out to the dimenfions of the 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 323 



Infinite, they in Heaven have long ago come to 
underftand that all fuch endeavours are a folly. 
The abftractions of the finite reafon become de- 
lufive fictions when they are put forward as appli- 
cable to the Infinite : whereas the figures and 
(as they might be called) the fictions of a fym- 
bolic ftyle are lights on the highway of eternal 
truth, when we take them for what they are — our 
only guides on that road. 

Let me now apply thefe maxims of Biblical in- 
terpretation — I venture fo to think of them — to the 
Biblical ftyle in teaching me all I can learn in this 
world, and perhaps in another, concerning what is 
technically called the doctrine of the Atonement. 
Take one inftance out of many. Christ, as 
teacher of a new morality, or of a morality newly 
illuftrated by His own practice, is fpreading out to 
view that felf-renunciation of which His coming 
into the world was the brighteft example. He 
fays — " Even as the Son of A4an came into the 
world, not to be the receiver of fervices, but that 
He might Himfelf render fervices to others." 
Thus far the terms are literal, and they are fuch 
as manifeftly exhauft the fubjecr. to which they 
are applied ; for the words find a full interpretation 
within the circle of the duties and offices of com- 
mon life. But then there is an appended claufe : — 
the teaching, in relation to the immediate occafion, 
was completed at the femicolon ; yet it receives a 
fupplement; it is as if, when the purpofe of Chrift's 



324 



ESSAYS, ETC. 



coming into the world were brought within the 
field of vifion 5 it was not poffible to flop fhort in 
the mention of what was only an adjun&ive pur- 
pofe — the giving an example of felf-denying bene- 
ficence ; not fo, for this Teacher of men came 
principally as their Deliverer ; and in this capacity 
He came "to give His foul a redemption-price 
for the many." Now the terms of this appended 
claufe are not intelligible in a literal fenfe : mani- 
festly they are tropical : — they lead outward, be- 
yond that home-circle within which the terms of 
the firft claufe complete their intention. There 
was nothing which met the eye of thofe who were 
fpeftators of the Crucifixion, that could correfpond 
with the terms of this fubjoined claufe : a fenfe 
more remote — a fenfe occult is to be inquired for. 
There is a tranfa£tion, the parties concerned in 
which do not make their appearance on this ftage : 
the principals are not here vifibly prefent. Chrift's 
death, as a martyrdom, was a vifible event; and 
thofe of the byftanders who were capable of learn- 
ing the leflbn, might learn the whole of it as they 
flood. 

It is, then, as if in thefe eight words — xai ^ouvai 
ty\v ^vxhv avTou Xvrpov ccvti ttqXKwv — a momentary 
uplifting of the veil of the great world were taking 
place : and in this moment (begun and patted in 
the twinkling of an eye) there had flood in view 
the long line of the captive human race : — the 
Tyrant — enemy of God and man — with the chain 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 325 



in his hand : — the laying down of a price which 
he would, but which he dares not refufe : — then 
the dropping of that chain from his reluctant grafp, 
and — the releafe of uncounted millions ! 

All this is figure ; but it is figure which has its 
intention, and which touches more nearly the truth 
of the things in profpect than any form of words 
could do which, difcarding metaphor, mould aim 
to be literal and exact. In changing its terms, 
and in feeking aid from other fources among the 
things of earth, the Biblical ftyle keeps fteadily in 
view its fingle purpofe, namely, to fuggeft a belief 
concerning the death of Chrift which mall quite 
exclude the notion (otherwife probable) that the 
crucifixion was a martyrdom merely. It would 
be fafe to feek for inftances in the Apoftolic writ- 
ings ; but thofe occurring in the Gofpels may be 
regarded as having a peculiar emphafis. 

u The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the 
fheep " — He layeth down His foul for them. 
Metaphor again, and it is indeed a brief utterance ; 
but yet the terms, few as they are, open up, as 
before, the unfeen world ; and the fame perfons, 
and their conflict, are dimly revealed ; and the 
centre fact is the fame — the crucifixion ; and the 
price offered to the Tyrant is the fame ; for it 
is the foul of the Deliverer that is the price of the 
redemption of the captives. And the metaphor 
is fuch as to preclude all rifk of its being inter- 
preted in a literal fenfe. And it is becaufe the 



326 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



doctrine, and the facts, which are thus fymbolized, 
fo immeafurably tranfcend the powers of human 
language to exprefs them, and fo far tranfcend the 
range of human thought to grafp them, that both 
the doctrine, and the facts, are everywhere con- 
figned to figures, and to fuch figures as could not, 
except as perverted by the fuperftition of a dark 
age, have received a literal interpretation. Under- 
ftood as a fyftem of figures, Chrift's teaching, on 
various occafions, conftitutes a uniform doctrine 
concerning the one purpofe of His death. Even 
thofe variations in the wording of His laft utter- 
ance at the Supper, as reported by the three Evan- 
gelifts, may well be underftood to convey a further 
precaution, intended to guard againft the dan- 
gerous miftake of interpreting literally that which 
fo far exceeds any power of words. It is evi- 
dent that, in the conveyance of what mould 
be underftood in a literal fenfe, on a fubject like 
this — namely, the purpofe of the death of Chrift, 
there could have been only one form of words by 
which fo momentous a doctrine could be certainly 
made known. But a figurative conveyance of it 
may admit of many variations without damage to 
the meaning ; inafmuch as, at the beft, fuch lan- 
guage can be taken for nothing more than an ap- 
proximate exprefiion of an ineffable truth. 

Throughout the Apoftolic writings every utter- 
ance bearing upon the fame fubject is concentric 
with Chrift's own words, when His death, and 
the manner of it, and its purpofe, are in His view. 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 327 



This purpofe I can no more mifunderftand than I 
can mifunderftand thofe many paflages occurring 
in the Pfalms, and the Prophets, which fymbolize 
the power, the providence, the wifdom, the om- 
nifcience, and the companion of God. The terms 
are various, the metaphors are drawn from every 
available fource ; but the final intention is put 
beyond the reach of miftake, unlefs when a per- 
verted reafon refolves to take to itfelf the falfe, and 
to caft away the true. 

More than three or four paflages in the Apof- 
tolic Epiftles might fuggeft an inquiry concerning 
the purpofe of the Saviour's defcent into Hades — 
the Sheol — the prifon of fpirits. But that which 
more concerns me is — the triumphant return of 
the Deliverer from that prifon-houfe. It is not 
among fhadows, obfcurely fpoken of, that I am 
left to feek the aflurance of fafety which I need, 
when on the border of the world unknown. A 
firm aflurance of the forgivenefs of fins, and of 
every other benefit which now in this life, and in 
the future life, is embraced in the Chriftian 
fcheme, is brought to reft upon a fa£t concerning 
which I may poflefs myfelf, if I need it^ of incon- 
teftible hiftoric evidence, namely — the Refurrec- 
tion of Chrift. Yet are thofe to be accounted 
happy whofe perfonal confcioufnefs of their indi- 
vidual memberfhip in Chrift carries them clear of 
any fuch neceflity ! To feel this neceflity is a 
penalty that muft be paid by the educated, as the 
price of their prerogatives. 



328 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



SECTION VII. 

THE Refurre&ion of Chrift — a principal 
event, it muft be, in the hiftory of the hu- 
man family ; and as this event is cognizable 
through the medium of thofe ordinary evidences 
which put us into correfpondence with hiftory at 
large, it might well claim the place due to it as at 
once the inftance, and the proof, of a deftiny fo 
much higher than mortality could otherwife afpire 
to. Thought of in this way, this event might 
feem itfelf to pafs over from the region of theology, 
and to attach itfelf to the philofophy of human 
nature. But no fuch transference as this can, in 
faft, be allowed ; for the Refurre£tion of Chrift 
has another, and a higher intention than that of 
enlarging our conceptions of the deftiny of the 
human fpecies : it is the governing event in an 
economy which is purely fpiritual ; and it will 
withdraw and withhold our thoughts from what- 
ever belongs to a lower order of ideas. 

What is it then that I intend by this phrafe — 
a phrafe fo vaguely employed often — the fpiritual 
economy ? It is that recovery, and it is that dis- 
cipline of human fouls individually^ which is the 
leading fubjedt of Chrift's laft difcourfe with His 
difciples before His hour of fuffering. He there 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY 329 



fpeaks to them of the advent of the Comforter, 
the Spirit of Truth, who fhould " abide with them 
for ever/' and fhould " teach them all things " — 
in a word, fhould open up anew the communion 
of man with God, and bring it to reft upon a new 
foundation. This fpiritual economy is not decla- 
rative, nor is it univerfal, like that of the moral 
fyftem, which embraces all beings that are rational 
and accountable ; but it is a difpenfation that is 
ftrictly individual, and the benefits of which are 
imparted in a fovereign manner, wherever they 
are beftowed at all. It is a difpenfation of grace 
connected always with the life, the death, the 
refurrection, and the mediation of Chrift, as the 
Saviour of them that, throughout all time, fhall 
hear His voice and follow Him. 

If, while this prefent life is running out, I am 
feeking allurance, and if I need a fteadfaft hope as 
to the future life, neither of thefe bleffings can ever 
be attained on the field of difcurfive and unauthentic 
meditation ; for that field, on every fide of it, 
borders upon an abyfs — dark and unknown. Hope, 
and peace, and affurance, muft come to me from 
above, and they muft fo come as that I may be 
able, at all times, to connect them with that 
which is well-defined, and is warranted, and is 
approvable to reafon and confcience. That Di- 
vine Energy to which I am taught to attribute 
whatever, in a genuine fenfe, is good within me, 
conforms itfelf to the terms of the written Reve- 



33° 



ESS ATS, ETC. 



lation which is in my hand. The fpiritual life is 
a difcipline, and an exercife, and a commence- 
ment, every rudiment of which, and every poffible 
condition of it, has already been noted, and put into 
terms, and fet forth in inftances, within the compafs 
of the infpired writings. Apart from this verbal 
and this definite guidance, and from this authentic 
teaching, I may conje&ure anything, and imagine 
what I pleafe ; and after making excursions, to 
the right and the left, far into the illimitable 
gloom, I fhall return to queftion all things, to 
doubt everything, and to ficken of all. There 
could be no reft, on this ground — ground it is not, 
but a region of dreams, wherein the human mind 
has never attained to what it needs — peace in prof- 
pe£t of the future. 

Within the compafs of the infpired writings I 
find that which meets and fatisfies the wants of 
the foul in its yearning to hold communion with 
God — the Father of fpirits, and to be aflured of 
His favour. In the Gofpels and Epiftles I am 
fully inftru&ed as to the terms of this communion ; 
but it is in the devotional portions of the Old 
Teftament, and there only, that I find the expref- 
fion of it. I need both ; and it is a circumftance 
full of meaning that, whereas in the New Tefta- 
ment the conditions of peace between man and 
God are fet forth with the utmoft explicitnefs, 
little or nothing is added in them, either in the 
Gofpels or the Epiftles, as a pattern or exempli- 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 331 



fication, or as the formulas of this newly-opened 
communion. In the New Teftament there is 
hiftory, and there is doctrine, and precept ; but 
there is no fpiritual liturgy; there are no models 
at large of evangelic meditation ; there is no new 
recenfion of the worlhip of the ancient Church : 
as well the public prayer and praife, as the folitary 
wreftlings of the foul with God, which ferved the 
faithful in the earlieft times, the fame muft ferve 
us alfo in thefe laft times. 

What fhould be the inference from this notice- 
able fact ? It is this, that as to the communion 
of the human fpirit with the Father of fpirits, it 
had already received its character and ftyle, and it 
had attained its higheft expreffion, and it had 
reached its moft mature form in the Pfalms, and 
in the theologic and devotional paffages of the Pro- 
phets. It is thus, in fact, that the devout in all ages 
have taken up, and have employed thefe fublime 
paffages, and thefe odes, and thefe meditations. 
But then thefe ancient formulas of devotion — thefe 
model expreffions of the throes of the fpiritual 
life, were given to the pious among the Hebrew 
people while they were ftill uninformed, explicitly, 
concerning the future life. This fact imports 
much. Thinking juft now only of the devotional 
Pfalms, and of fome paffages in the Prophets, it is 
to be noted that thefe voices of the foul, moved to 
its depths, and giving emphatic utterance to its 
yearning for the enduring favour, and fruition of 



332 ESSAYS, ETC. 



the prefence of God, are drawn forth by nothing 
more momentous than the changeful experiences 
of the ordinary lot of man — man whofe days are fo 
few — man, in his brief time of frailty and finful- 
nefs — man in his pafling hour of ficknefs and defti- 
tution — his hour of faintnefs and thirft in the 
wildernefs, when purfued by the cruel, and be- 
trayed by the falfe, and caft down by troubles that 
ftiall fee their end at fun-rife, and chilled by a cloud 
that is even now moving off from the heavens ! 
It is as thus difciplined among the things of this 
fhort day of life, that the foul is brought into cor- 
refpondence with the Infinite, the Eternal, whofe 
favour (hall be endlefs. 

Here then is a refult that is vaflly out of pro- 
portion with the occafions whence it is educed. 
Here is a difcipline, looking on to a remote fu- 
turity, which futurity has barely been announced ! 
Here is a training for an endlefs life ; but the 
endlefs life itfelf is, at the beft, dimly forefhadowed 
only. The trial begins and ends in a day— a year, 
or a threefcore years and ten ; and the learners in 
this fchool are fpending their days of vanity or pain 
as a tale that is told ; and while they are thus 
chaftened every morning, and fore troubled every 
evening, they are learning thofe leflbns of im- 
mortal wifdom which befpeak a deftiny whereof 
nothing more than an ambiguous whifper has 
come, once and again upon the ear. Here then, 
in confidering the conditions under which fouls 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 333 



were trained, of old, I learn what it concerns me 
to underftand, as to the Divine Method, always 
the fame, for the fpiritual difcipline of the human 
fpirit. 

Now — and under the conditions of the Chriftian 
fyftem — juft as it was under the ancient fyftem — 
the foul is wrought upon intenfely, and it is pro- 
foundly moved by the things of the hour and of the 
day ; from which tranfient interefts it would fain, 
but cannot do fo, difengage itfelf. Why not treat, 
as they deferve, thefe trials of the moment — come 
and gone, while we fmart under the lafh ? Why 
not contemn thefe cares and pains ? How wife 
were it to contemn them ! We think we will do 
fo to-morrow ; but to-morrow mall fee our ftoical 
refolves mattered, and we in fchool once again. 
But in this fchool of to-day I am learning leflbns 
which, fo far as appears, I mall have no occafion 
to put in practice when the time comes that I 
have thoroughly well learned them. 

So it was with the long feries of thofe to whom 
the Scriptures of the Old Teftament were given : 
— they were in training for a life hereafter, which 
life had not been fo revealed to them as that the 
hope of it mould diftinctly utter itfelf in their 
religious language, either of folitary meditation, 
or of difcourfe, one with another. And thus 
it is now, even under the brighter light of the 
Chriftian revelation : the Divine Method is fub- 
ftantially the fame. Although the announcement 



334 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



of immortality is now diftinct, and the conditions of 
its attainment are fet forth in the cleareft manner, 
yet little more is given than fome dim indications 
of what that life eternal is to be, in preparation for 
which the difcipline of the prefent life is — what 
we find it to be. The arduous fervices, and the 
trials of principle, and the bold enterprifes of that 
future cycle of aeons fhall be fuch — how can it be 
fuppofed otherwife — they mall be fuch as fhall ex- 
hibit, and fhall juftify the wifdom that has ordered 
the training which fills the years and days of this 
prefent life. 

That I mould well learn the lefibn of this life, 
but that while learning it I mould not know its 
meaning — this is the purpofe of Him who appoints 
it ; therefore, it is upon the learning of this lefibn 
that my beft thoughts mould be concentred, and I 
ought to be content to look on, feeing in front of 
me the thick folds of a veil that is never lifted. 
And yet this veil, impenetrable as it is, is it not 
figured with fymbols on this fide ? Certainly it 
is fo ; nor need there be hefitation in attempting 
to decipher thefe hieroglyphics, for whatever is 
fpread out before the eye of man is doubtlefs in- 
tended for his perufal. But ought it not to be be- 
lieved that, at this time, if not ages ago, the entire 
fenfe of Scripture has been laid open ? What 
can there now remain, in thefe days of Bible 
exploration, to be brought up from the depths ? 
An anfwer to this queftion, intended to check 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 335 

prefumption, I find at hand,yzr/? in this fact, which 
obtrudes itfelf in reviewing the courfe of religious 
thought through the lapfe of centuries — that what 
have been the allowed limits of thought in one 
age, have not been its limits in another : thefe 
limits, in fact, are found to be variable, from time 
to time : the fubjedts of religious inquiry are in a 
courfe of (hifting from one period to another. 
The indifference, and the inobfervance of this 
prefent time, on fome fubjects, may thus be 
brought into comparifon with the vivid intelli- 
gence, and the active curiofity of times long gone 
by, and now almoft forgotten. The individual 
reader of the Bible ought indeed to be cautious 
when he is tempted to fet his fingle opinion in 
oppofition to the mind and judgment of the Church 
univerfal ; but he need not be troubled with diffi- 
dence when he puts fmall value upon the opinion 
of the time now paffing, if it ftands oppofed, as 
it may, to the opinion of times paffed. 

But again, a reply to the above-named repref- 
five query may be found in noticing that inat- 
tention to the meaning of certain fignal paf- 
fages in the Old Teftament, and in the New, 
which prevails at this time — whether it be the 
pulpit, or the prefs, that is thought of. In public 
and in private — in the family and in Church — 
the Bible is read — by the chapter : — it is doled out 
in lumps : it is recited, and it is heard, as if it had 
long ago fpent its force \ it is infifted upon with 



336 ESSATS, ETC. 



emphafis at points only : it is difregarded through- 
out thofe flat places upon which no intenfity of j 
the prefent moment happens to fall. 

Moreover, in what relates to the future deftiny 
of the human family at large, there are other in- 
fluences which come in to intercept the courfe of \ 
a free interpretation of the infpired writings. We 
hear it faid — " Do not open up fuch and fuch \ 
fubje£ts : — you will unfettle the minds of people." 
Meantime Chriftianity itfelf is weighted down in 
the fecret mufings of thoufands of thoughtful per- 
fons. But beyond this, the incubus of fyftematic 
Theology fits heavily upon religious thought, and 
ftifles Biblical inquiry. Such and fuch beliefs — 
plainly as they may Hand out upon the furface of 
the Scriptures — how mall they be reconciled to 
our other beliefs, which are equally certain, or 
more fo ? What will become of our doctrinal 
forms ? — nay, how fhall we fave the credit of our 
theological fynthefis ? — how — unlefs we pafs over 
in filence thofe things which this fynthefis will 
never avail to bring into their place in our divinity ; 
fcheme. Befides, if you admit into your religious j 
fyftem this and that, you furrender our contro- 
verfial ftronghold : — you open a way, and the 
enemy will come in ! 

Allowance mould be made for thefe fears, 
groundlefs as they are ; for it can be no wonder 
if even men of intelligence give way to alarms at 
a time when a lawlefs and arrogant fcepticifm has 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY 337 

made deep inroads upon the Chriftian convictions 
of multitudes, as well among the educated, as 
among the uneducated. It may feem the duty of 
wife and difcreet inftru£r.ors to throw their whole 
weight on to the confervative fide, in religious 
opinion. But there are moments when nothing 
is fo perilous as a blindfolded perfiftence in con- 
fervatifm. We know it is fo in politics, and is it 
not fo in religion alfo ? 

Confervatifm in the feniors pafles into fome 
form of worldly difcretion, or of fheer indifference, 
or of tacit infidelity, when it is taken up by their 
fons and fucceflbrs. The tranfmutation is a filent 
procefs — no one fpeaks of it; no one denounces 
it ; but it is in the courfe of this very procefs that 
Chriftianity fubfides into its periodic condition of 
powerlefs formalifm. Thus it has been — how 
many times — in the courfe of eighteen hundred 
years ? It cannot be told how often this cycle 
has been run through ; but this may be affirmed, 
that, at whatever point of Chriftian hiftory we 
make our entrance upon the fcene, the rife and 
the fall — the time of power, and the feafon of 
(lumber, are juft then taking their turn. Falfe 
religions fiumber for centuries, when once they 
have fpent their primeval forces ; but the Chriftian 
force fufFers abatement for ftiort feafons only \ — it- 
felf lives, it awakes, it walks forth : — it has renewed 
its youth, and it gathers fouls anew. 

So it (hall be yet again : national events may 
z 



338 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



come in to give an impulfe to the minds of men : 
— there may come a feafon of fuffering perhaps ; 
but the new life of a period of reftoration takes 
its rife in the fpirits and hearts of a few — a two, or 
three. So it has always been. Greater than any 
" tendency of events " is the mind of this and of 
that man— born, and taught, and moved onward 
from above. But although the movement be indi- 
vidual, and thus muft defy human forethought, yet 
does it ftand related to the things of the time, when 
it occurs. It is on this ground, therefore, that the 
chara&eriftics of the next coming Chriftian reno- 
vation might be predicted; and thus one might 
prefume to predict for the Church of the next age 
a rea£tion from the formalifm of this. 

There is an outer-work that muft precede an 
inner Chriftian movement. There muft be a 
clear ground of reafon on which the convi&ions 
of the few who think muft be made to reft. In the 
coming time thofe many forms of anti-Chriftian 
opinion which have flared up in thefe laft times 
fhall have collapfed, or have fallen in lipon that 
one mode of thought which alone is logically pof- 
fible on the fide of difbelief. Even now thofe 
who have followed the courfe of thought on that 
fide from year to year will be ready to acknow- 
ledge that there is no holding — there is no ledge 
for the foot — anywhere upon the Hope toward ma- 
terial atheifm, or that extreme creed which fatif- 
fies a fenfuous and fenfual flefhlinefs. As to any 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 339 



fcheme of pantheifm which hitherto has been 
imagined — it is a figured gauze — ftretched over the 
mouth of the bottomlefs pit. 

The bafement work, in preparation for a feafon 
of Chriftian renovation, muft be carried yet fome 
way further. In a remarkable manner the courfe 
of inquiry of late years has tended to the clearing 
up of antiquity on all fides — to the certification 
of hiftory, at all points, and to the confequent 
verification of thofe methods of argumentation, 
by means of which a folid road athwart the gloom 
of ages has been formed, and is fafely trodden. 
The iffue fhall be a realizing confidence in the 
truth of the Evangelic Records — fimply thought 
of as hiftory. This renovation is now greatly 
needed. The myth-whims, and the cobwebs of 
German C{ profound thought " are an amazement 
to Englifh minds that have made acquaintance 
with the realities of the Apoftolic period, and 
thefe fancies will be gone as mifts, at the dawn of 
the next day-time of religious feeling. 

The bafement work in preparation for fuch a 
time muft include alfo fome reforms in halls of phi- 
lofophy. Accomplished and well-intending men 
will come at length to acknowledge the impafiable 
limits, and the impotency of abftracT: thought, as 
related both to the unknown, and to the Infinite 
in theology. Such men will ficken of the infruc- 
tuous toil of attempting to teach Chriftianity phi- 
lofophically, or of teaching atheiftic philofophy, 



340 



essjts, etc. 



Chriftianly. What is it that has come, hitherto, 
of thefe mifdirected endeavours r They have not 
given us either a Chriftian metaphyfics, or an 
intelligible anti-Chriftian metaphyfics. Chriftian 
belief is expreffible in Biblical ftyle, and not in 
any other ftyle : yet this is not becaufe there is 
not, in the upper heavens, a philofophy proper to 
it ; but becaufe, for conveying its axioms, no 
dialect on earth has any terms. 

Nugatory difbeliefs wound off, and done with ! 
nugatory Chriftianized philofophies fpun out, and 
done with ! Biblical criticifm become religious, 
becaufe admitted without jealoufy : — Holy Scrip- 
ture become refplendent ; or, as one might fav, 
incandefcent, throughout, and taking effect upon 
all minds — and then it need not be thought a chi- 
merical fuppofition that the Divine intention of 
the infpired writings mould be accepted on all 
fides, and that (let church organizations be as 
many as we pleafe) Chriftian doctrine fhould be 
received in its integrity, humbly, cordially, every- 
where, and "without controverfv," by all ! 

In this Effay I have endeavoured to fet forth 
— ftep by ftep, a courfe of thought, in follow- 
ing which a pofition of religious reft, or of a 
tranquil, if not joyful looking forward into the 
unknown future may be attained. A pofition 
much in advance of this point of reft is no doubt 
attainable ; and the fimple-hearted Chriftian man, 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 341 



whofe life and temper are in accordance with 
Chriftian precepts, may affuredly reach it without 
prefumption. If at this time I am flopping fhort 
of this further and warrantable ftage in the Chrif- 
tian life, it is on this account — namely, that I am 
fuppofing the cafe of thofe — and there are more 
than a few fuch— whofe habits of thought may be 
of a kind that debars them from any fuch tranquil 
enjoyment of a cloudlefs faith. It is the enviable 
happinefs of fome — of many — to have read their 
Bible from their youth up, and to have read little elfe. 
But I am now thinking of thofe who — often and 
often, have trod the round of meditation, and who, 
after deriving from Chriftianity itfelf exalted con- 
ceptions of the Divine Attributes, have imbibed 
from it alfo a fenfitivenefs which is incompatible 
with that tone of enjoyment which gives animation 
to the piety of fome around them. Let it be 
granted that there is a fault — and it may be a 
ferious fault — on the part of any who thus come 
fhort of this animation, and who, when challenged 
to be glad, and to lift up the head, find it difficult 
to difengage themfelves from meditations that come 
on as a cloud, from remoter fources, and which 
fettle down upon their profpect. The fenfitivenefs 
and the difquietude which I am here fpeaking of 
are recent developments of the Chriftian con- 
fcioufnefs ; and they are of that fort which attends 
deep changes in modes of thinking that have not 



342 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



reached their end or purpofe : no doubt they Jhall 
reach that end, if not now, yet in the times of our 
fucceflbrs. 

In looking back upon any period we pleafe in 

centuries paft, there are to be feen Chriftian men 

— many or few — doing honour to their profeffion 

as laborious and felf-denying benefactors — the dif- 

penfers of benefits, bodily and fpiritual : — wherever 

want, and pain, and woe were abounding, men 

have been at hand who have learned from Chrift 

the firft leflbn of His new law of love. All was 

i 

right thus far ; neverthelefs one may be amazed to 
find, along with this a£Hve Chriftian element — the 
abfence of that meditative fenfibility which, in 
thefe times, fo deeply moves many minds, in rela- 
tion to the human family at large. 

Chriftian charity, in thefe times, feems as if it 
would reverfe the order of beneficence, as given 
us in the Apoftolic precept— u Doing good to all 
men — fpecially to them that are of the houfehold 
of faith for now it is as if we read it — " Spe- 
cially to them that are not of that houfehold. 53 
Doubtlefs there is a deep meaning in this revulfion 
of feeling ; and we may take it as a filent prepa- 
ration for a new and amazing development of the 
powers of the Gofpel to reftore all things. At 
this time it is not only the prefent condition, but 
the deftinies of the unblefied, the unprivileged, 
the loft, the vifibly non-ele£l of the thoufands 



WITHOUT CONTROVERSY. 343 



near us, and afar off, who are dwelling in the 
outer darknefs of hopeleffhefs, as to this life and 
the future — it is thefe, and their wretchednefs, that 
fix the thoughts of the meditative few who mufe 
and fpend their days in fadnefs. Meantime the 
enterprifing and the better-minded are up, and are 
buned in all practicable fchemes of reformation. 
Concerning fuch fchemes, if wifely ordered, there 
can be no controverfy ; for how thick foever may 
be the darknefs into which we have lately learned 
to look, it muft be well to carry into it a lamp ; 
and whatever may be the miferies of the pit, it 
muft be a good work to carry help to our fellow- 
men there that have never had a better home ! 

On this path, as on every other, the bleffed 
Book which has been given us from above holds 
toward us the fame method : — it folves no prob- 
lems — it fatisfies no impatience, it gives no philo- 
fophy of pain and of fin :~ — it abftains even from 
affording a gleam of light — off the narrow way 
w T hich the individual Chriftian man is to tread. 
None of thefe things do the infpired writers do for 
us ; but yet that narrow way is well defined, and 
as to the myftery of the evil and the fuffering of 
which lately we have learned to think fo much, we 
muft feek no folution of it, or afk — How is it fo ? — 
Why Ihould it be fo ? — What will be the end ? 
There is no refponfe ! Heaven will not be in- 
quired of by us as to any fuch matters. 



344 ESS ATS, ETC. 



Let it be fo ; for the work before us is free 
from a fliadow of doubt. As to our troubled 
thoughts — an anguifii as they are to fome — this 
difquiet may be the prognoftic of a time coming 
when the power of the Gofpel to blefs the human 
family fhall be fo amply developed as fhall at once 
overpafs all controverfy within the Chriftian pale, 
and put to filence for ever all gainfaying from 
without. 




SUPPLEMENT TO ESS AT V. 345 



SUPPLEMENTARY TO THE FIFTH 
ESSAY. 

Adiftin£r.ion which fhould always be kept in 
view has not been duly prefented in the 
Effay — " Theodosius : — Pagan Ufages, and the 
Chriftian Magiftrate." What we fhould intend 
by thefe " Pagan Ufages " with which the " Chrif- 
tian Magi/irate " may have to do, are not the 
immoralities of men individually — abounding, as 
they do, everywhere, and which it is the office of 
the minifter of religion to rebuke, and which he 
muft aim to remove by perfuafions addreffed to 
the confciences of men fingly : — thefe are not what 
we mean ; for with thefe — as fins — it is not the 
office of the magiftrate to concern himfelf. Pagan 
ufages (we are thinking of fuch as are immoral) 
are national cuftoms, and legalized practices, and 
injiitutions which, being of ancient date in a coun- 
try, are recognized as allowable ^ or are cherifhed 
as good; at leaft they ?^e fubjected to no general 
reprobation ; but perhaps they are gloried in, and 
are upheld by the public arm, and are endowed by 
the public funds. 

Now as to fuch ufages — fuch inftitutions, and 
fuch legalized crimes — abominable as they may 



34^ 



ESSJTS, ETC. 



be — this is to be noticed concerning them — and 
never fhould it be forgotten — that Chriftianity 
abftains from naming, or denouncing, or prohibit- 
ing them : — it is filent becaufe it takes quite ano- 
ther courfe in ridding the world of them : it does 
at length rid the world of them ; but this happy 
iffue it brings about in its own manner. It be- 
comes us to underftand what this method is — for, 
if we miftake it, we (hall be likely to fall into the 
impious pra&ice of pleading the filence of the 
Gofpel in behalf of the worft abominations. 

When a crime of any fort has paffed into its 
fixed form as an institution — when a fin has 
come to ftand upon the fair fide of a people's fta- 
tute-books — when the Devil has been called in to 
prepare the rough draft of a liberal enactment, then 
— we fhall look in vain for texts in which fuch 
crimes of a ftate are denounced, or are even 
named. The Gofpel, as it addrefles no offer of 
falvation to nations, fo does it preferve an ominous 
filence concerning their fins. 

But this boding filence — is it approval ? none 
will think fo but thofe whofe reafon is faft going — 
where their confcience has long ago gone — to 
ruin. What then are thefe Pagan ufages ? What 
are thefe national institutions which Chrif- 
tianity does not name, and does not denounce, 
but of which, at length, it rids every country 
where it gains the afcendancy ? They are thefe 
nine following : — I. Polygamy. II. Infanticide. 



SUPPLEMENT TO ESS AT V. 347 



III. Legalized Proftitution. IV. Capricious Di- 
vorce. V. Sanguinary and groffly immoral Games. 

VI. Infliction of Death or Punimment by Torture. 

VII. Wars of Rapacity. VIII. Cafte ; and, IX. 
Slavery. 

Each of thefe immoralities was practifed, and 
was more or lefs diftinctly exifting as a focial In- 
ftitution — a ufage — of the neighbouring nations in 
the time of Chrift's miniftry. In fact, each of them 
had then a place even in Paleftine, fo far as that it 
muft often have come before Him ; — and was an 
immorality perpetrated under His eye. Yet one 
only of the nine on this lift did He name, and de- 
nounce — that is the fourth : and the reafon of the 
preference given to it we might eafily find. But 
were the eight approved ? It is a madnefs to think 
fo — it were blafphemy to fay it ! With each of thefe 
non-mentioned immoral ufages Chriftianity, in its 
progrefs among the nations, carne into conflict at 
an early time \ and then, in its own manner, by en- 
lightening the individual confcience, it either abro- 
gated them entirely, or it greatly mitigated the 
evil of each of them. Some of thefe ufages dis- 
appeared filently, very foon after the moment of 
the imperial converfion : others fell from their 
place as applauded cuftoms, and quietly fubfided 
into a pofition of tolerated evils — condemned, yet 
winked at. Each of them, among modern na- 
tions, vanimes wherever Chriftianity prevails, and 
is free to fpeak its mind. To this averment there 



348 



ESSATS, ETC. 



is not — there never has been — -an exceptive in- 
ftance. Certainly the worft of the nine — Slavery 
— is not an exception : how could it be fo, for it 
includes, and it gives its eager fupport to, at leaft, 
feven of thefe enormities out of the nine : — it does 
fo as thus — Slavery has had its commencement in 
the moft atrocious of all the forms of aggreffive 
and lawlefs war : flavery perpetuates the moft 
odious of the diftinftions of cafte : — flavery en- 
forces its initial wrong by giving a brutal licence 
to punifhment by torture. And as to that circle 
of crimes which are the attendants of flavery, in 
vitiating the relation of the fexes — flavery is the 
foul of each of thofe abominations with which the 
brutal luft and the demon-like cruelty of man have 
ever blighted what God has blefled. Slavery does 
indeed exift in countries where Chriftianity is blaf- 
phemoufly profefted ; — but in no country does 
flavery maintain itfelf in which the Gofpel takes 
effe6t upon the confciences of men. 



THE END. 



CHISWICK PRESS : PRINTED BY C. WHITTINGHAM, TOOKS COURT, 

CHANCERY LANE. 



